It Took Me This Long To Track Down A Kyle Russell Autograph?

Yup. Indeed it did. I picked up this 2011 Bowman Chrome Refractor Auto of the Dodger minor leaguer for two dollars and twenty-four cents, taking advantage of combined shipping from an eBay seller, which made delivery on the Russell free of charge.

As the refractor version, it is numbered 368/500. Most importantly, it's an on-card auto. Add in the chrome element and a nice design overall and I'm very pleased with this pickup. I've always been a bigger fan of Russell's than any other Dodger blogger I can think of, choosing to look past his propensity to whiff and focus in on his massive power and ability to draw a walk.

I was fortunate enough to see Kyle play for High-A Inland Empire in 2010 before his promotion to AA, and witnessed him hit a walk-off solo shot in the bottom of the ninth (it may have been the tenth) to defeat whatever team the 66ers were playing that night.

While I had hoped that Russell could replace James Loney at first as soon as possible, it now appears Kyle will never be more than a bat off of the bench, or perhaps the lefty half of a platoon at first or in left. Not that there isn't value in that, but his inability to cut down on his strikeouts does not portend to the decently bright future I had envisioned.

Not that it is impossible for Russell to improve and man a starting gig for a year or two before it's all said and done, as he is just 25 years old and could be a late-bloomer. In a short stint in AAA to end this past campaign, he cut down significantly on his misses with the lumber - by about 11% to be exact - while upping his BB% roughly seven percent.

If Russell gets off to a hot start with Albuquerque to open 2012, and whomever is manning first for the big league club is struggling (I assume it'll be James Loney, and I assume full well he'll be the James Loney he's almost always been and will in fact be struggling), Russell could force a call-up.