Zac Rosscup is a former left-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who last played in 2019. While his major league career was relatively short-lived, Rosscup has achieved some distinctions that make his baseball cards fascinating collecting pieces. Let’s take a deeper look at Rosscup’s career and the baseball cards that were produced chronicling his time in the big leagues.
Rosscup was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 35th round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of the University of Texas at Arlington. He made his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2014 at the age of 26. Prior to reaching the majors, Rosscup had put together a solid minor league career with a 3.14 ERA over 175 games spanning 2010-2013 while climbing the ladder through Low-A, High-A, and AAA.
One of the more unique early Rosscup baseball cards comes from 2014 TOPPS MLB Sticker Collection. Despite playing in just 2 games that season, Rosscup managed to pull a sticker card out of series 1 of the sticker book release. Finding this low-printed sticker of a debuting rookie is a real treasure for Cubs or Rosscup collectors.
After bouncing between the Cubs and their AAA affiliate for parts of the 2014-2015 seasons, Rosscup began to carve out more of a regular role in the Chicago bullpen in 2016. He appeared in a career-high 54 games that year, posting a 3.06 ERA over 49 innings pitched. This breakout season led to Rosscup receiving several mainstream rookie and base card releases from the top trading card companies in 2016.
Some of the standout Rosscup rookie cards from 2016 include versions from Topps Baseball (#624), Topps Baseball Highlights (#RH27), Topps Pro Debut (#PD15), and Panini Donruss Optic (#125). Of these, the Topps Pro Debut and Panini Optic cards tend to be the most scarce due to their lower print runs within hobby boxes of those respective products. Locating a PSA/BGS graded gem mint copy of one of these inaugural Rosscup rookie issues would prove quite the find.
After spending parts of 4 seasons with the Cubs, Rosscup was waived and claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners in August 2017. He finished that season splits between Chicago and Seattle while continuing to contribute out of the bullpen. Rosscup’s Mariners debut resulted in some minor addition to his card portfolio, such as a base card in 2017 Topps Heritage (#649).
Rosscup struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness over 2018, bouncing back and forth from the Mariners to their AAA affiliate on multiple occasions. One bright spot that year was an outstanding campaign for Team USA in the 2018 friendly series versus international competition. Rosscup notched a 0.00 ERA over 4.2 stellar innings pitched while earning several nice patriotic card issues.
Highlights of Rosscup’s 2018 Team USA card run include releases from Topps Archives #USM-ZR, Topps Now #US-ZR2, and a rare Memorial Day parallel from 2018 Topps Opening Day #MD-ZR. Collectors who focus on sets highlighting players representing their countries will want to track down examples of Zac in a red, white, and blue uniform to commemorate this chapter of his career.
After being outrighted off the Mariners 40-man roster in October 2018, Rosscup signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds in 2019. He broke camp with the Reds to start the season but was ultimately designated for assignment after 11 appearances covering 9 innings. This resulted in Rosscup’s final major league card to date appearing in 2019 Topps Series 1 (#503).
While his MLB tenure lasted only five seasons split between three franchises, Rosscup has left an interesting footprint in the hobbies of baseball card collecting and Cubs, Mariners, and Reds fandom. Chasing the many unique parallel, inserts, rookie versions and low-print issues highlighting this left-handed reliever’s short but productive time in the show offers fun challenges for those building sets themed around specific players.
Whether you focus on his time as a Cub, representing Team USA, or rocking the tricolor Reds uniform, Rosscup’s baseball cards serve as a nice retrospective of a career that saw him battle through the minors for years before contributing at the game’s highest level. Finding high-grade copies of his scarcer rookie issues or patriotic issue cards in particular would make for very worthwhile additions to the collections of players who fondly remembers Zac Rosscup’s major league journey.
