Diamond Dynasty - Prospect Bobby Witt Jr. and All-Star Kenny Lofton Added

With the Big Dog Set 2 packs and the Headliners Set 3 packs, we get a bunch of new players in Diamond Dynasty, including Prospect Bobby Witt Jr. (fresh off a successful debut against the Guardians) and the diabolical All-Star Kenny Lofton card.

All-Star Kenny Lofton replaces Veteran Billy Wagner, and Bobby Witt Jr. headlines the fresh pack replacing Big Dog Set 1. The other players in the Big Dog Set 2 pack are: Signature John Franco, Prime Adam Dunn, Prospect Triston Casas, Awards Huston Street, Rookie Minnie Minoso, All-Star Steve Finley, and Prospect Noelvi Marte.

Big Dog Set 2 Pack

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Starting with the big dog of the pack, Prospect Bobby Witt Jr., I don’t think this card quite breaks into the elite ranks early in the season. He’s going to be cheaper than the most elite options of Signature Michael Young and Live Series Fernando Tatis Jr., but he’s going to be a little below the likes of Face of the Franchise Wander Franco and Francisco Lindor. The closest comparison might just be the Prospect Anthony Volpe from the Big Dog Set 1, and Witt Jr. is basically going to provide more power but less vision and contact than that card. Both those cards have some infield versatility and solid fielding skills as well.

Signature John Franco is perhaps the true “star” of this pack as he now becomes potentially the best left-handed reliever in DD so far. He’s battling the likes of Breakout Andrew Miller and Live Series Josh Hader for that role. The screwball-sinker combo is how Franco gets it done, but there’s enough pitch variety here as well to make things work. The H/9 sits at 98, which is not amazing, but it’s hard to figure out how aggressive SDS will be with this rating after the backlash last year where SDS gave out max H/9 too easily early in the year.

You should know what you’re getting with Prime Adam Dunn, and so there’s not much to say there. It is a Prime card, which is maybe more important than anything else for future collections. Prospect Triston Casas is a solid bat option, but he’s got stiff competition at 1B early in the year. If his defense were better, he might be more intriguing at his 3B secondary position.

Awards Huston Street is the other big reliever in this pack. The right-handed options are better right now than the left-handed options, so Street is not as impressive. He’s also been somewhat easy to hit in previous years, so it’s tough to say if this is a true top-end diamond right now.

Rookie Minnie Minoso is the standard speed-contact threat we’ve come to know. All-Star Steve Finley was a menace last year, and so I’m going to assume he’s still awesome even if the ratings are not upper echelon. Lastly, Prospect Noelvi Marte is another solid budget SS option that can fit right into that second tier of shortstops.

Headliners Set 3 All-Star Kenny Lofton

Here are his ratings:

Here are his quirks:

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All-Star Kenny Lofton joins Face of the Franchise Byron Buxton and Luis Robert as the best of the “budget” options in the second tier of CF options. His arm in the outfield holds him back as usual, but he has 98 speed and 113 contact vs. RHP. It also feels like contact players are being rewarded a bit more than last year so far, which makes Lofton’s poor power ratings matter less. Overall, Lofton was great even last year, so I think this should be a popular card.

The odds on Headliners packs to pull a diamond are 1:10 (as always), albeit that diamond might not be All-Star Kenny Lofton. 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

As is to be expected, this is the strongest combo of packs we have gotten so far this year. Two relievers could end up being in many bullpens (Street, Franco), and we’re getting a bunch of solid options at other positions as well. None of these cards should be the “best” player at their position right now (except maybe Franco as a left-handed reliever), but that’s a good thing. The collection rewards and Face of the Franchise cards should continue to outpace these sorts of packs for the time being, but these are fun alternatives for those looking to go outside the normal “meta” picks. Plus, we get these players in Battle Royale now as well.