The mail hasn’t come yet today, and the Jays were off yesterday so I don’t have any game recaps to discuss … but I’ve still got lots to blog about. This morning, I opened two Just Minors Mystery Bat boxes, and you’ll see how I did below.

BOX ONE:

As previously mentioned, each box contains an autographed bat and two autographed cards. In the first box, my two autographed cards were Jorge Luis Toca and Brent Lillibridge. Toca’s card is from 1999 and features him with the Binghampton Mets. Toca, born in 1975, defected from Cuba and played just 25 games for the NY Mets between 1999 and 2001, collecting seven hits and five RBI. He was suspended in 2005 under the Minor League Baseball substance-abuse policy, and played in the Mexican League in 2007. It’s fair to say this isn’t my best card pull ever. Lillibridge, meanwhile, is more promising. Still just 26 years old, he was drafted by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 2004 amateur entry draft, and made it to the Bigs with Atlanta in 2008. A former Baseball America Top 100 prospect, he now plays in Chicago’s organization with AAA Charlotte.

Note: It’s cool how these Just Minors cards are sealed. (You can see the stickers sealing the top of the plastic holders.)

The bat, meanwhile, was pretty good. Not the best by any stretch, but I’m happy with how this gamble turned out. I got Felix Pie of the Baltimore Orioles (formerly of the Chicago Cubs) who is in the Big Leagues and appears to have a bright future ahead. Pie is a former five-tool prospect who’s the O’s starting left fielder. He’s already overcome a lot — a horrendous testicular torsion (don’t look it up … trust me, it’s gross) injury in 2008. The 25-year-old has already hit for the cycle (in 2009) and was batting .400 this season before a back injury put him on the DL.

BOX TWO:

My second box yielded autographed cards of a couple more prospects: Kellen Kulbacki and Cyle Hankerd. Kulbacki is a former first-round pick of the Padres, who had three monster seasons (.343, .464, .398) at James Madison University. He’s worked his way up to AA ball, and is currently playing in San Antonio. Hankerd was undrafted, but at the age of 25, is already up in AAA ball in the Arizona system. The former USC player has shown good power numbers and a knack for driving in runs since making the jump to pro ball.

 Now, it’s time for the bat. Drum roll, please.

Jay Bruce! I’m pretty pumped with this success. Bruce is only 23 years old, but already has 52 MLB home runs. He was drafted 12th overall in 2005 by the Reds, and has an awesome baseball resume. So far, this is my best Mystery Bat by far!

The Just Minors baseball products are awesome. The company doesn’t have an MLB licence, so it does the best it can do, and that’s a pretty good job. My favourite Just Minors products are the “Mystery” sets, which I’ve previously blogged about here.

Basically, Just Minors’ Mystery products are boxes containing a few cards, but also bats, balls, helmets, etc. In the Mystery Bats product, you get two random autographed cards, and one autographed Rawlings Big Stick bat. There’s also a chance of getting a game-used bat. Most of the bats are signed by prospect-type players, but there are definitely some great young talents on the checklist.

Why do I mention this? Because I recently picked up a couple Mystery Bats, which I’ll open soon (likely tomorrow).

So, please check back soon for scans of the cards and bats that will hopefully make for an exciting box break.