Baseball America Names Matt Wieters the 2008 Minor League Player of the Year

The Baseball America announced Monday that they have officially named Baltimore Orioles Catcher Matt Wieters as the Baseball America 2008 Minor League Player of the Year.  Wieters has destroyed Minor League Pitching at every level throughout the 2008 Season and looks to have a bright future in the Majors.  The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Catcher has drawn numerous comparisons to Jason Varitek and Mark Texiera - both of which are also Georgia Tech Alumni.  Over his 14 seasons as Georgia Tech's Baseball Coach, Danny Hall has coached a number of highly talented players who later went on to enjoy tremendous big league success.

Based on his experience with each of the 3 Georigia Tech Stars, Hall had this to say, "Varitek was crazy good in college.  And then Mark was your [Baseball America's] Player of the Year as a sophomore and hurt as a junior, so it's hard to judge his career. All three had a very mature approach as hitters, a very high IQ. And all three are switch-hitters, which is just very unique.

"Mark has made quite a mark as a hitter, but the next guy is coming. I have no reason to believe he's [Matt Wieters] not going to be a superstar as a hitter and as a catcher. And there's no doubt he expects it."

Wieter's 2008 stats make a very powerful case for the favorable comparisons made by his former coach:

As if this, coupled with his recent nomination as Baseball America 2008 Minor League Player of the Year were not already enough to send Sports Collectors into a frenzy, Wieters has a very likable and approachable personality.  This rare combination is sure to lead to a very large hobby following once he arrives in the Majors.

Matt Wieters was recently quoted by Baseball America as saying, "The fans are the reasons we're able to play this game. When they show up every night and support you, you've got to give your best effort to give them autographs and just give them a little bit of your time.  You're not going to be able to sign every autograph or get to say hello to every person.  But every chance you can get, it doesn't hurt to take some time out of your day to sign some autographs and make some kids happy."

There are not many Matt Wieters cards currently available on the market. His best autographed rookie cards available are his 2007 Elite Extra Edition Auto RC's produced by Donruss and his 2007 Justifiable Preview Auto RC's from Just Minors.  The price of his cards and memorabilia has already began to increase significantly since being named 2008 BA POY and there are no indications that this positive trend will stop any time soon.

Buy Matt Wieters Baseball Cards andamp; Memorabilia

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