Diamond Dynasty - Awards David Price and Breakout Eric Davis Added

In the Show Shop today, we get Big Dog Set 3 and Headliners Set 5. Included in these two packs are Awards David Price, Breakout Eric Davis, among others.

Breakout Eric Davis replaces All-Star Mariano Rivera in Headliners packs, and Awards David Price is one of the three new top rewards in the Big Dog Set 3 pack. The other players in that pack are Breakout Christian Yelich and Prospect Gabriel Moreno in the featured round, and then Breakout Nelson Cruz, Prospect Oneil Cruz, Postseason Lefty Grove, Breakout Brian Roberts, and Prospect Francisco Alvarez in the base round.

Big Dog Set 3 Pack

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Awards David Price being the headliner for the pack is an interesting choice because he’s generally been unpopular in DD. Having a sinker and cutter should help in some respects, but this might be one of those cards where it has to earn some respect. I don’t know if that respect will be coming with the 87 H/9 and a lack of top-flight stats in any one category. The velocity is there, and the speed differentials look solid, but I have my doubts about this card based on the past.

Breakout Christian Yelich might be the safe choice here, albeit it comes with some concerns as well. He has great stats from both sides of the plate and has 76 speed, but his bronze defense and 67 vision are just middling. Still, Yelich cards are generally popular, and he has a sweet lefty swing to draw people to him.

The other top choice in the featured round is Prospect Gabriel Moreno. This could be a logical pick if you’re not pursuing Prospect Adley Rutschman. The Rutschman card is slightly better and is a switch hitter, but you get higher vision with this card. Overall, I would put this card in the second to third tier of catchers right now, with Rutschman still being the top of the second tier of options.

With the base round, there’s some really fun picks here. Breakout Nelson Cruz is more contact-driven than power-driven, which is obviously a change of pace. Overall, it’s probably the card I care about the least in this base round. Prospect Oneil Cruz might be the most fun card in the base round. He’s 6-foot-7 and can play SS, 3B, or anywhere in the OF. He also has impressive power but just 59 vision. On top of that, he has a 90 arm and so he could really be a boom-bust guy all-around.

Postseason Lefty Grove is another intriguing option because he’s actually a closer/long reliever. He has 59 stamina and a 99 mph fastball (no outlier), and puts that together with a curve, slider, and changeup. As a Postseason card, a lefty reliever, and someone with solid stamina, I wouldn’t be shocked if this card goes way up in value as time progresses.

Breakout Brian Roberts is a card many of us should be familiar with by now. I have liked this card in the past, but it looks a bit sketchy this time around with only 100 contact vs. RHP holding it up. The defense is good as well, but he’s only eligible at 2B. Lastly, Prospect Francisco Alvarez will crush LHP, but he’s also probably more on the low end of things when it comes to this portion of the pack.

Headliners Set 5 Breakout Eric Davis

Here are his ratings:

Here are his quirks:

Breakout Eric Davis is another player who comes with a track record at this point. He has elite speed, and he will absolutely destroy LHP. That said, you always have to remember he is all over the plate, and that just throws some people off. In addition, the defense is just decent, which makes sense because we usually get at least one top-end Eric Davis card at some point later in the year.

The odds on Headliners packs to pull a diamond are 1:10 (as always), albeit that diamond might not be Breakout Eric Davis. In addition, this year you can buy one pack of the Headliners choice pack, which gives you 1:3 odds of pulling a 90+ overall diamond (and of course costs more stubs).

Bottom Line

Big Dog Set 3 might be the first choice pack where I’m almost more interested in getting the base round choice rather than the featured round choice. You still want to get the top cards because, if anything, they’ll sell for more, but it feels like you can’t end up with a bad card if you choose to spend stubs on it. With Headliners Set 5, I do think Breakout Eric Davis is good, but it just doesn’t excite me because I imagine we’ll get an even better version down the line.