Every great trilogy has a beginning, middle, and end. Bowman Draft is the final piece of the prospecting puzzle. This is the first place to get those cards of newly drafted prospects. Trust me. Collectors and investors were chomping at the bit to get their hands on them. Cards from the core three prospecting sets – Bowman, Bowman Chrome, and Bowman Draft traditionally hold the most value.
Everyone wants to get in early on that prospect who they think will turn into the next Mike Trout. Can you blame them? The Mike Trout 2009 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Superfractor Auto #’ed 1/1 sold last year for a whopping $400k. That’s a ton for a modern day baseball card.
It certainly didn’t take long for an eye catching sale to come out of the 2018 version of Bowman Draft. From the looks of it, the Nolan Gorman Superfractor Auto sold for $15k. Hopefully the transaction goes through, and the buyer/seller don’t have a falling out. Talk about a lot of money for a card of a guy who was drafted #19 last summer, and has played less than 100 professional games. From an investment standpoint I think its a bit nuts. There are a lot more unproven prospects than Mike Trout superstars. Just because he had 17 home runs in 63 games last year doesn’t mean he’ll be able to keep that going. Single A ball is not the same as the majors. Then again, who am I to say what people should or shouldn’t spend their money on? As you can see, prospecting is very much alive and well.
2018 Bowman Draft comes in two different formats – Jumbo and Super Jumbo. A Jumbo box contains (3) autographs, whereas a Super Jumbo box has (5). The base set contains (200) cards, and has the following parallels: Sky Blue #’ed/499, Purple #’ed/250, Blue #’ed/150, Green #’ed/99, Gold #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/5, Black #’ed/1, and Printing Plates #’ed/1.
Each base card has a Chrome counterpart with these parallels: Refractor, Asia Refractor, Sparkles Refractor, Sky Blue Refractor #’ed/402, Purple Refractor #’ed/250, Blue Refractor #’ed/150, Green Refractor #’ed/99, Gold Refractor #’ed/50, Orange Refractor #’ed/25, Red Refractor #’ed/5, Superfractor #’ed/1, and Printing Plates #’ed/1.
(14) cards have image variations. These are quite easy to spot. Each image variation has a Chrome, refractor-like finish, and the CMP code on the back will end in #0916. Half of these image variations have autographed versions #’ed/99.
The Chrome Draft Pick Autographs are the real meat and potatoes when it comes to this brand. This is where you’re guaranteed autographs will come from anyway. At least most of the time. The Bowman Sterling inserts are back which have a nice clean look. What really stands out to me are the cards celebrating the 20th anniversary of 1998 Bowman. I fondly remember the original 1998 Bowman because that’s where my Jimmy Rollins rookie is from. A buyback autograph of that card would’ve been nice. The 20th anniversary set features young prospects on the old design. Those vertical autographs came out well.
I’m from Selinsgrove, PA. One of the Cardinals 2018 draft picks, Nick Dunn, is from Sunbury, PA which is right across the river from me. Its always fun to see a local person get cards. He was a round 5 pick, 153rd overall. I saw him play for the State College Spikes this past summer. Bowman Draft has base and Chrome cards of him with all of the accompanying parallels. No autographs yet.
Complete Checklist
Here is what I pulled:
Autos
- Ryan Weathers Chrome Draft Pick Auto Redemption
- Owen White Chrome Draft Pick Auto
- Kody Clemens Chrome Draft Pick Green Refractor Auto #’ed/99
Parallels
- Korey Holland Purple #’ed/250
- Adam Hill Sky Blue #’ed/499
- Nick Schnell Sky Blue #’ed/499
- Jameson Hannah Chrome Sparkles Refractor
- Pavin Smith Chrome Purple Refractor #’ed/250
- Jeremiah Jackson Chrome Sky Blue Refractor #’ed/402
- Matt Vierling Chrome Sky Blue Refractor #’ed/402
- Ethan Hankins Chrome Refractor
- Jesus Luzardo Chrome Refractor
- Ryan Weathers Chrome Refractor
- Lenny Torres Chrome Refractor
- Daniel Lynch Chrome Refractor
- Jackson Kowar Chrome Refractor
- Drevian Williams-Nelson Chrome Refractor
- Taylor Trammell Chrome Refractor
- Kody Clemens Chrome Refractor
- Mitch Keller Chrome Refractor
- (2) Keston Hiura Chrome Refractor
- Tyler Frank Chrome Refractor
- Jordyn Adams Chrome Refractor
- Kevon Jackson Chrome Refractor
- Sean Guilbe Chrome Refractor
- Adrian Morejon Chrome Refractor
- Adam Wolf Chrome Refractor
- Mitchell White Chrome Refractor
- Matthew Liberatore Chrome Refractor
- Grayson Rodriguez Chrome Refractor
- Braydon Fisher Chrome Refractor
- Nico Hoerner Chrome Refractor
- Andres Gimenez Chrome Refractor
Inserts
- Ryan Weathers Bowman Sterling
- Alec Bohm 1998 Bowman 20th Anniversary
- Jonathan India 1998 Bowman 20th Anniversary
- Cole Winn/Matthew Liberatore Recommended Viewing
- Anthony Seigler/Noah Naylor Recommended Viewing
- Nolan Gorman/Triston Casas Recommended Viewing
- Simeon Woods-Richardson/Braxton Ashcraft Recommended Viewing
- Logan Gilbert/Josh Stowers Franchise Futures
- Ryan Weathers/Xavier Edwards Franchise Futures
- Brady Singer/Jackson Kowar Franchise Futures
- Jonathan India/Mike Siani Franchise Futures
Filed under: Reviews | Tagged: 2018, baseball, bowman, box, break, draft, jumbo, review | Leave a comment »
