Future Watch: A.J. Puk Rookie Baseball Cards, A'sFuture Watch: A.J. Puk Rookie Baseball Cards, A’s –  Drafted by the Oakland A’s with the sixth overall pick in the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft, A.J. Puk was a bonus baby. He signed a deal for in excess of $4M right away and then he was whisked off to start his professional career.

Pre-draft this 6′-7″, 220-pound left-hander starred with the Florida Gators. The Detroit Tigers drafted him in 2013 but he chose the college route instead. Puk had a misdemeanor scrape with the law in the early part of his Florida career but when that blew over, he was a key contributor when the Gators won the 2015 College World Series.

Known for being a great athlete, at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa he played baseball and football. He was a quarterback on the grid iron and he pitched and played some first base on the baseball team as well.

Heading into the 2016 draft, Puk was ranked 6th by Baseball America. Clearly the A’s were paying attention. After the draft, Baseball America ranked Puk as having the third best fastball in the draft. That’s high praise.

According to his MLB Draft Profile:

“Big and strong, Puk arguably has the best raw stuff of any arm in the 2016 class, with the chance to have three plus pitches. He’s capable of touching 96-97 mph with his fastball regularly. Ironically, he might have been at his best in the one inning he threw before his back acted up, showing a 96-99 mph fastball and a plus slider at 88-90 mph. He can maintain his velocity deep into starts and while his changeup is his third pitch, it should be Major League average in the future.”

He last pitched in Vermont in Short A. He didn’t get a win but he had a solid 3.03 ERA. He had a stellar 1.07 WHIP plus 40 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings. He only yielded 23 hits and didn’t surrender a home run. He’s already in the top 75 players listed in MLB.com’s top 100 prospects list.

A.J. Puk already has several baseball cards in the market, including autographs. Panini America featured him heavily in their 2015 and 2016 USA Baseball sets. His first card however dates back to 2012. He has a Bowman Perfect Game All-American card from that year.

A.J. Puk will be featured in 2016 Bowman Draft Baseball. You can expect to see his first MLB licensed  autographed cards of this potential phenom when the product hits hobby shelves on December 7th, 2016.

While final checklist have yet to be releases, he may very well have autographed cards in 2016 Panini Elite Extra Edition Baseball and 2016 Leaf Metal Draft Baseball as well.

You can listen to his fastball pop in this video:

He has an upper 90’s fastball, a slider in the 80’s and a change up! He can easily be a top of the rotation starter or a bullpen star someday. At 21, he’ll continue to start for now and then it will be up to the A’s to see where he fits into their plans. He’s years away but he has a very high ceiling.

Future Watch: A.J. Puk Rookie Baseball Cards, A’s – Image Gallery

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