Guide to Collecting Baseball Cards of MLB’s Top Rookies of 2019

by | Aug 15, 2019 | Baseball, Collecting 101, Feature Article, Sports

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Guide to Collecting Baseball Cards of MLB’s Top Rookies of 2019- The explosion of young talent baseball has witnessed in recent years is unprecedented. It also shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. While last year’s talk was focused on Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. a whole new roster was waiting in the wings.

Take a look at these recent performances from just a small sampling of 2019 rookies and MLB’s rising stars:

Yordan Alverez: the 22-year old LF/DH hit three Home Runs with 7 RBI’s in the Astros 23-2 win over the Orioles on Saturday.  Alvarez has 51 RBI through his first 45 career games, the most in major league history over that stretch, surpassing Ted Williams’ record of 47 RBI in his first 45 games in 1939. He had two additional hits on Sunday to raise his current batting average to .355. Over the past week, he is hitting a robust. .455.

Aristides Aquino: The Reds outfielder hit three homers in his first three at bats on Saturday in a 10-1 win over the Cubs. He became the second player in MLB history with a three-homer game in his first 10 career games. Aquino, who got called up after the Reds traded Yasiel Puig has hit 7 Homers with 14 RBI’s and is batting .452 after only 10 games. Reds rookie Aristides Aquino, nicknamed the Punisher,  went deep against the Washington Nationals on Monday, making him the first player in MLB history to hit eight home runs in his first 12 career games.  Four hitters shared the record of seven home runs in their first 12 career games. The most recent occurrence was in June of this year, when Houston Astros  Yordan Alvarez accomplished the feat.  Earlier in the day, Aquinio was named NL Player of the Week.

Bo Bichette: Last Thursday, Bichette hit another double and in doing so he became the first player in major league history to double in nine consecutive games. He also homered, giving him an unprecedented 13 extra-base hits in his first 11 career games. Bichette is the first rookie to have an extra-base hit in nine straight games since Ted Williams in 1939, according to STATS.  The 21-year old Shortstop is batting .367 and is part of a young nucleus of talent on the Blue Jays.  Bichette went 4 for 6, with two more doubles in the Jays 19-4 win over the Rangers.  He has 15 extra-base hits through his first 15 games, more than anyone else in MLB history. Bichette’s 26 total hits since his July 29 debut are the most by any big leaguer in that span.

Guide to Collecting Baseball Cards of MLB’s Top Rookies of 2019 – How We Got Here

The MLB Pipeline has been stocked with talent for the last several years. The result has been an influx of a multitude of young players capable of competing at the highest level.

In addition to the players mentioned above, this year’s rookie class is highlighted by Alex Verdugo, Fernando Tatis Jr., Pete Alonso, Victor Robles, Michael Chavis, Eloy Jimenez, Christian Walker, Keston Hiura and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 

These players come on the heels of other bonafide young stars the league has seen in recent years like Juan Soto (20), Cody Bellinger (24), Rafael Devers (22), Ozzie Albies (22), Yoan Moncada (24) Andrew Benintendi (24), Alex Bregman (25) and Francisco Lindor (25)

And this is forgetting the “old-timers” that started this new era of young talent like Mike Trout (28), Bryce Harper (26), Kris Bryant (27), Jorge Soler (27) Javier Báez (26) and Christian Yelich (27).

To say that baseball is young and talent laden is a massive understatement. Combine that with the renewed interest in sports cards and you have a perfect storm. With demand exceeding supply, unlike the the famed “junk-wax” era, store owners, show dealers, breakers and online retailers are thriving. This in turn leads to a red hot secondary market for established marketplaces like eBay and COMC. The boom has even brought in “new money” thanks to the media attention garnered by entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuck and sneaker market guru Josh Luber.

Guide to Collecting Baseball Cards of MLB’s Top Rookies of 2019 – In The Cards

Because of the way eligibility rules for baseball work, players like Aristides Aquino, Bo Bichette and Yordan Alvarez won’t have their officially licensed rookie cards until the release of 2020 Topps Series 1 Baseball in February of next year. Fortunately for collectors, each of these players, and all the other top rookies of 2019, have cards in previously released baseball card products.  

Here is a look at the most collectible baseball cards of MLB’s top rookies of 2019.

Aristides Aquino – 2014 Bowman Chrome

Bo Bichette  – 2016 Bowman Chrome Draft

Yordan Alvarez – 2018 Bowman Chrome

Alex Verdugo – 2014 Bowman Draft 

Fernando Tatis Jr. – 2016 Bowman Chrome

Pete Alonso – 2016 Bowman Chrome Draft 

Victor Robles – 2016 Bowman Chrome

Michael Chavis – 2014 Bowman Draft

Eloy Jimenez – 2017 Bowman Chrome

Christian Walker – 2015 Bowman Chrome

Keston Hiura – 2017 Bowman Chrome

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 2016 Bowman Chrome

Guide to Collecting Baseball Cards of MLB’s Top Rookies of 2019 – Image Gallery

 

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