With Austin Riley finishing up his moment in the sun, we look ahead now with the August Monthly Awards and the first featured player being Lightning Jim Thome. Topps Now Week 1 is smaller than the usual first batch for the new program as well. It only has three players, and then one collection reward.
August Topps Now (Week 1)
- Topps Now Miguel Vargas
- Topps Now Jordan Montgomery
- Topps Now Eddie Rosario
I always like when we get to see some fresh faces for the Topps Now players, and two of the three hit that here with Montgomery and Vargas. I think Montgomery is mildly intriguing due to the pitch mix being decent, but he might have some issues with velocity differentials. Eddie Rosario should be a familiar face for DD fans as he had a sick card last year. This one isn’t incredible or anything, but he’s be fine as a platoon option if you love his swing.
Moments
- August 2: Mateo Uses Some Muscle
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 XBH
- August 2: Rosario Records Go-Ahead Knock
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 RBI
- August 3: San Diego Welcomes Soto
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Get on base 3 times
- August 3: Miguel Makes Great First Impression
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- August 6: Monty’s Revenge Game
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 2 innings
- Strike out 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 run
- August 7: Bellinger Helps Sweep Padres
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 2 hits
- Hit 1 HR
Collection
- Topps Now Jorge Mateo – Collect 3 Topps Now August players
We may have a new go-to super utility option here. Mateo can play just about every position and has 99 everything for speed purposes.
August Topps Now (Week 2)
- Topps Now Thairo Estrada
- Topps Now Michael Kopech
- Topps Now Joey Meneses
- Topps Now Drew Rasmussen
- Topps Now Vaughn Grissom
Moments
- August 9: Man Oh Man Oh Manny
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- August 10: Grissom’s Grand Debut
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- August 10: Meneses Makes Nats History
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 4 total bases
- August 12: Kopech Shines
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 11 batters
- Do not give up 1 run
- August 14: Lindor Sets Mets Record
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 1 RBI
- August 14: Nearly Perfect
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 1 inning
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 hit
- Do not hit 1 batter
- August 14: No Stopping The Machine
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- August 14: Thairo The Hero
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
August Topps Now (Week 3)
- Topps Now Oswaldo Cabrera
- Topps Now Patrick Sandoval
- Topps Now Dustin May
Moments
- August 16: Rhys Won’t Cease
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 6 total bases
- August 17: From The Jaws Of Defeat
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 home run
- August 17: New King Of Queens
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Hit 1 home run
- August 18: Welcome To The Bronx
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 1 XBH
- August 19: Patrick Maddux Sandoval
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Pitch 4 innings
- Do not give up 1 run
- August 20: He May Be A Problem
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Pitch 2 innings
- Do not give up 1 run
- Strike out 4 batters
Collection
- Topps Now Rhys Hoskins – Collect 11 Topps Now August players
August Topps Now (Week 4)
- Topps Now Kyle Stowers
- Topps Now Nathaniel Lowe
- Topps Now Corey Dickerson
Moments
- August 22: Max Passes Pedro
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Strike out 2 batters
- Do not walk 1 batter
- Do not give up 1 hit
- August 24: Julio Records Rodriguez
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 home run
- August 24: Lowe In High Elevation
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 6 total bases
- August 25: All Glory To Corey
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Tally 3 hits
- August 25: Light Stower Power
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 home run
- August 27: Cy Young Caliber
- Difficulty: Rookie
- Strike out 10 batters
- Do not give up 2 runs
Rewards
- 2 points – Cleveland Home Alternate 1994 uniform
- 4 points – The Show pack
- 6 points – 500 stubs
- 8 points – Topps Now Miguel Vargas
- 10 points – Topps Now Jordan Montgomery
- 12 points – Topps Now Eddie Rosario
- 14 points – The Show pack
- 16 points – 500 stubs
- 18 points – Topps Now Thairo Estrada
- 20 points – Topps Now Michael Kopech
- 24 points – Topps Now Joey Meneses
- 26 points – Topps Now Drew Rasmussen
- 28 points – Topps Now Vaughn Grissom
- 30 points – The Show pack
- 32 points – 500 stubs
- 36 points – Topps Now Oswaldo Cabrera
- 38 points – Topps Now Patrick Sandoval
- 40 points – Topps Now Dustin May
- 42 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 44 points – 1,000 stubs
- 48 points – Topps Now Kyle Stowers
- 50 points – Topps Now Nathaniel Lowe
- 52 points – Topps Now Corey Dickerson
- 54 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 56 points – 1,000 stubs
- 60 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x2)
- 65 points – Diamond bat skin
- 70 points – August Monthly Awards (96 overall)
- Monthly Awards Alexis Diaz
- Monthly Awards Christian Walker
- Monthly Awards George Kirby
- Monthly Awards Jeff McNeil
- Monthly Awards Lars Nootbaar
- Monthly Awards Peter Fairbanks
- 75 points – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 80 points – August Monthly Awards (96 overall)
- 85 points – Headliners Set 41 pack
- 90 points – The Show pack (x2)
- 95 points – August Monthly Awards (96 overall)
- 100 points – 1,000 stubs
- 105 points – Headliners Set 42 pack
- 110 points – August Monthly Awards (98 overall)
- Monthly Awards Alex Bregman
- Monthly Awards Randy Arozarena
- Monthly Awards Zac Gallen
- 115 points – Headliners Set 43 pack
- 120 points – The Show pack (x5)
- 125 points – August Monthly Awards (98 overall)
- 130 points – 2,500 stubs
- 135 points – Headliners Set 44 pack
- 140 points – Legends Takashi Okazaki pack
- 145 points – Ballin’ Out Of Control pack
- 150 points – Lightning Jim Thome
Last month, I would say Craig Biggio held up well as we waited to get our hands on him. With Thome, he goes into a loaded 3B position, so by default he probably won’t be worth the wait. However, it’s not a slight against this card as he certainly has some impressive hitting attributes. He maxes out his stats against RHP, and the platoon splits are not so brutal that you can’t use him against LHP. Plus, he is a 3B primary here so he will have a little more cache than he would at 1B, even if the defensive numbers are nothing great.
Ultimately, the defense and speed will probably bring his appeal down enough, but it’s hard to find this sort of power at 3B in a general sense. In fact, I have not looked too deeply at the numbers, but he probably has the top power at 3B as of today as it does beat out Lightning Austin Riley in that regard.
- 160 points – Home Run Derby pack
- 165 points – 2022 All-Star Game pack
- 170 points – Five Tool Player Tool Box pack
- 175 points – August Lightning Awards Mookie Betts
Another monster card arrives here with Lightning Mookie Betts. It’s easy to sell most folks on a Betts card either way, but he comes equipped here with a 2B secondary on top of having sick all-around stats. The 72 speed is the only slight negative, but I think this is another easy starter on most teams as of today. As should be the case, this is the best Lightning player we have received all year.
- 185 points – August Monthly Awards (96 overall)
- 195 points – August Monthly Awards (96 overall)
- 205 points – August Monthly Awards (96 overall)
- 215 points – August Monthly Awards (98 overall)
- 225 points – Ballin’ Out Of Control pack
