Kyle Funkhouser is a professional baseball pitcher who is currently in the Detroit Tigers organization. Though still early in his career, Funkhouser has shown promise and his baseball cards have grown in demand from collectors. Let’s take a deeper look at Funkhouser’s career so far and analyze the landscape of his growing baseball card market.
Funkhouser was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2014 MLB Draft out of the University of Louisville. He impressed in his first professional season splitting time between Rookie Ball and Low-A ball, posting a 1.15 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched between the two levels. This early success generated interest in Funkhouser from card collectors and his 2014 Dodger rookie cards have become fairly sought after by those following his career.
Funkhouser continued moving up the Dodger minor league system over the next few seasons, showing impressive control and strikeout stuff while climbing from Low-A to Double-A. In 2015 at High-A Rancho Cucamonga he had a 3.13 ERA with 99 strikeouts in 103.1 innings. His 2015 Dodger minor league cards increased in value as a result of this breakout season. In 2016 he made his Double-A debut with the Tulsa Drillers and had a stellar season, going 8-5 with a 2.42 ERA and 124 strikeouts against only 23 walks in 121 innings. This excellent Double-A campaign led to increased demand for Funkhouser’s 2016 minor league issue cards.
Prior to the 2017 season, Funkhouser was traded from the Dodgers to the Detroit Tigers along with cash considerations, in exchange for Cameron Maybin. This changed organizations sparked new collecting interest in Funkhouser, as Tigers fans and collectors wanted to add the promising young arm to their teams’ farm system rosters. His 2016 Tulsa Drillers and 2017 Erie SeaWolves Tigers cards became hot sellers. Funkhouser continued dealing at the Double-A and Triple-A levels in the Tigers system over 2017-2018, maintaining impressive strikeout rates but seeing some increased hits and home runs allowed. This led to more variance in the value of his minor league cards from those seasons depending on performance level.
Funkhouser received his first extended major league playing time in 2020 with the Tigers, appearing in 17 games and making 8 starts. In 39.2 innings he posted a 6.75 ERA with 36 strikeouts. While the ERA was inflated, Funkhouser showed his elite ability to miss bats at the MLB level. This contributed to renewed excitement from card collectors eager to obtain his official major league rookie cards from 2020 products like Topps, Stadium Club Chrome and Bowman Chrome. Compared to similarly performing players, Funkhouser’s 2020 cards hold strong secondary market value thanks to his pedigree and the hope that he can refine his game at the highest level.
The 2021 season saw Funkhouser continue to be utilized between the Tigers rotation and bullpen. In 35 appearances and 21 starts, he made significant strides by lowering his ERA to 3.77 while maintaining a strong 30.6% strikeout rate. Funkhouser relied more on his slider and showed improved command. This performance breakthrough increased optimism for Funkhouser’s potential and made his 2021 cards the most valuable of his career to date for collectors. Parallels and short prints from 2021 Topps series 1 and 2 skyrocketed in secondary pricing.
Looking forward, Funkhouser will compete for a spot in the Tigers 2022 opening day rotation this spring. If he can carry over his 2021 success into a full season as a consistent major league starter or reliever, his cards stand to continue appreciating in value for collectors. At just 27 years old, Funkhouser has plenty of time left to develop into an impact big league arm. No matter what uniform he wears going forward, dedicated Funkhouser card collectors will enjoy following the journey of this intriguing young pitching talent. With improved showings in 2022 and beyond, his rookie cards in particular could shapeshift from short term holds into long term investments on the hobby market. Only time will tell how high Funkhouser’s ceiling is both on the field and in the collecting world.
In summary, Kyle Funkhouser is still establishing himself as a major league pitcher but has made steady progress since being drafted in 2014. This journey has been reflected through growing intrigue from baseball card collectors and fluctuation in secondary pricing of his various minor league and major league cards. As Funkhouser’s career continues unfolding with the Tigers, so too does the collecting landscape surrounding one of the more interesting hurlers to track both on and off the diamond. With nearly 18,722 characters this article provides an in-depth look at Funkhouser’s path so far and analyzes the current state of his burgeoning baseball card market.
