2011 Heritage Minor League Cubs

I've haven't seen or heard too much about this set at all. And very little has shown up on Ebay, either. When the Heritage set was released back in March, there was, as always with Heritage, plenty of buzz. It's a cool product and the season is about to begin. Everyone is filled with hope and optimism.

But in late September, many of us have lost that optimism; mine disappeared in June. There's also been a bunch of other products released since March, and it's hard to get excited about another one, especially if a majority of the players are guys you've never heard of.

I found a Cubs team set for less than two bucks, so I went ahead and bought it. The five cards will be the only five Heritage Minor League cards that I'll get. All of the Cubs in the set were first round draft picks.



Michael Burgess was a first round draft pick of the Nationals in 2007. The Cubs picked him up as part of the trade that sent Tom Gorzelanny east. The Cubs assigned him to their high-A team in Daytona. He hit only .225 in 122 games, though he did have 20 HRs.

If you look on his sleeve you'll see the Ron Santo 10 patch. The Cubs had all the teams in their organization wear the patch this season. It will be an easy way to tell if a picture is from 2011



Ryan Flaherty was the Cubs first round pick in the 2008 draft. He spent 2/3 of the season in AA and hit .305 with 14 HRs for the Smokies. That earned him a promotion to AAA for the rest of the season. Things didn't go as well in Iowa, as his average dropped to .237.



Brett Jackson was the Cubs first round pick in 2009. Like Flaherty, Jackson split the season between AA and AAA. But he improved with his promotion, hitting .256 in AA and .297 in AAA.



Baseball America had him rated the #38 prospect prior to the 2011 season.



Josh Vitters was the Cubs first round pick in 2007. Only 21, he now has five years of pro ball under his belt. Vitters spent all of the season in AA and put up decent numbers. He hit .283 with 14 HR and 81 RBIs. I'm guessing he'll get a good look next spring and then spend the year in AAA.