[zeprock]

Back during the winter of 2016 I added five new players to my collection in anticipation of them eventually making it to the Hall of Fame after quick starts to their careers. They were Mookie Betts, Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper, Yasiel Puig and Max Scherzer. It didn't take but a year or two for me to abandon my Puig collection. Good call on that one. I am still collecting the other four players but am really considering giving up on Mr. Bryant. In 2016 he was hot off the Cubs' long overdue World Series Championship. He was a two-time All-Star, a Rookie of the Year and a MVP after just two seasons in the show. Now nine years later I'm thinking perhaps I should pull the plug on Bryant. Will he ever bounce back to the player he was or has he been crippled to the point of no return. I have just over 600 unique cards of him in my collection. Is it (past) time to cut bait?

[kerryandbeth]

I would assume he is not in any current sets other than base card. If true, I would stop collecting Kris Bryant.

[akaus]

I would stop collecting him. I don't think he will ever be the player he once was. He is in Colorado which normally helps with home runs, but he isn't doing much at all. Give up on him and you won't have any regrets.

[mmahoney]

I agree with stop collecting. His better days are long in the rear view mirror.

[jaredhuizenga]

If you like him as a player, keep collecting him. But if you're looking at him rebounding and rebuilding hobby value, I'd cut bait.

[wnclark22@outlook.com]

If you are collecting him with the expectation that he will become a hall of famer I think that ship has sailed and would stop collecting him.

[zeprock]

If you are collecting him with the expectation that he will become a hall of famer I think that ship has sailed and would stop collecting him.

Agreed. Guess I've got about 600 more cards to list for trade.

[ricelynnevans75]

I've read some commentary elsewhere that he was never the same after getting hit in the head back in 2018 and/or something about an arm or shoulder injury around the same time I think. With that said, he had a pretty good year in 2019 so not sure how applicable the head beaning actually is.

[wnclark22@outlook.com]

Agreed. Guess I've got about 600 more cards to list for trade.

It's a shame. He broke onto the scene with such a bang. Admittedly, I had high hopes for him too back in the day.

I will say though that having 1000 different cards of that many players is quite a feat. Congrats!

[rjcj2017]

This is a great question and topic in general.

I find myself lately - and maybe it's just because the current state of the hobby completely sucks - going more toward the singles route and basically backfilling my collection.

Case in point - I've purged most of the best cards in my collection twice.

One of those cards I sold was Stephen Strasburg's 2010 Topps Chrome auto RC refractor.

Much like Bryant, he had a great start to his career, won a championship and was hurt for a large period of his career.

But ... again, like Bryant, he will always be immortal to his franchise's fan base for delivering a World Series.

So, I recently picked up an on card auto out of 10 for less than the cost of two blasters.

I'm slowly realizing that the chance of any player actually living up to his potential and projected numbers is almost zero.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Trout are great examples of this.