Game 1: Welcome, Trout vs. Trout, Druw Jones, Baseball America's New #1 Prospect
Game 1: Welcome, Trout vs. Trout, Druw Jones, Baseball America's New #1 Prospect
Weekly Roundup 4/17/23-4/23/23
Welcome to Stealing Home!
Cards and collectibles have been a lifelong passion, and I am so excited to share the first weekly post from Stealing Home. In case you missed it, please check out our welcome letter! This is a new blog built to serve the card collecting-community, and we hope to incorporate new features, sections, and ideas from the community. To do this, we need your feedback – comment on any post or email us with what information you’d like us to cover.
So far we’ve put together a couple things we hope you’ll find useful:
We are just getting started. Onto Game 1:
Sales: Trout 10 vs. Trout Black Label
As many of you may know, one of the most famous modern cards is the 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout #US175. Last week, Goldin Auctions sold two #US175’s – a BGS Black Label 10 and a PSA 10. Incredibly, the Black Label sold for a whopping $27,600 (after Goldin’s 20% buyer’s premium) compared to a relatively measly $1,586 fetched by the PSA 10. These sales highlight the premium collectors put on Black Labels, and for good reason. As of April 22, 2023, PSA has graded 12,443 base #US175’s, with 6,004 grading at a PSA 10. BGS has graded 6,988 #US175’s, with only 27 (about 0.4%) grading at a Black Label 10.
For more information about card grading methodologies, check out the PSA grading standards and Beckett Grading Scale (BGS).
New Releases & Top Prospect in New Release
Bowman Baseball is set to release this week on Wednesday, April 26. That box will come with a fresh set of top prospects. You can find the complete checklist of prospects and players included in the set here. The top prospect in this year’s Bowman Baseball, Druw Jones, is getting his 1st Bowman card. He’s the #2 overall pick in last year’s draft and the son of former major leaguer Andrew Jones.
The cards are currently on presale, with a Hobby Box (containing one autographed card) selling for around $275 and a Jumbo Box (with three autographs) selling for $490.
If you’re interested in buying a box (or a few), we highly recommend you purchase them at your local hobby shop. However, if you don’t live near one, you might want to check out Blowout Cards or Dave & Adams (D&A allows you to make your purchase with cryptocurrency if you’d like).
Trending Up Trending Down
In the last 30 days, cards of Mets prospect Brett Baty lead all sport card transactions, trending up 26.29%. In the same period of time, Steven Kwan is down the most among baseball players, falling – 18.03%. Brock Purdy is down most among all athletes, trending down -27.59% – I told you Aaron.
Prospect of the Week: Jackson Chourio
In honor of being named Baseball America’s #1 prospect, Jackson Chourio is our inaugural Prospect of the Week!
Jackson Chourio is a 19-year-old baseball player from Maracaibo, Venezuela. After signing with the Brewers in January of 2021 for $1.8 million, he unexpectedly dominated his way into AA. As of April 23, 2023, Chourio is hitting .285 in the minor leagues, with 28 home runs. He quickly rose through Milwaukee’s ranks and became their #1 prospect before becoming Baseball America’s #1 prospect earlier this month.
Chourio was named the Milwaukee Brewers' Minor League Player of the Year in 2022. He’s dazzled in the minors with Baseball America highlighting Churio’s “prodigious power, speed and athleticism to go with advanced hitting ability and instincts.”
Chourio’s 1st Bowman Auto Refractor is selling for around $1,600 at the time of this posting. However, his new entry into BA’s top prospect may result in a price spike.
If the $1,600 price tag is a bit steep for you, you may want to consider buying Chourio’s 1st Bowman Auto Base card which sells for around $300. Considering he is the top prospect in Baseball America’s rankings and a unanimous top 10 prospect, $300 seems like a solid investment.
We hope you enjoyed our inaugural post! If there’s anything you’d like us to cover in future posts, please comment or reach out! We’ll be back with more next Sunday.