Image Courtesy Of Bowman Baseball

For years, Bowman Baseball has served as the first product of the new season for collectors to get their hands on the first card of players that changed teams in the offseason in their new team’s uniform. This is in addition to rookie cards for top prospects that made late season debuts, and the first card for several of the game’s top prospects.

The 2023 Bowman Baseball prospect delivers on all of these, especially for the Mets.

Scheduled for release on April 26th, the 2023 Bowman Baseball product is a 100-card base set that is a mixture of veterans and rookies, plus a 150-card set of prospects that is also available in the Bowman Chrome variation. Each of these sets come with multiple parallel designs.

As always, the new Bowman product features many of the same insert sets year after year, including Bowman Scouts’ Top 100, Prospect Autographs, Chrome Prospect Autographs, Chrome Rookie Autographs, Rookie of the Year Favorites, and Invicta. New insert sets debuting in the new Bowman product includes Modern Prospects and Bowman Spotlights.

After viewing the full checklist for both the 100-card base set of veterans and rookies and the 150-card prospect set, it became crystal clear that someone at Topps involved in deciding which players are included in this product is clearly a Mets fan.

The 100-card veterans and rookies base set includes 8 Mets players, more than any other team. You can find the first Mets card of Justin Verlander, rookie cards of top prospects Francisco Álvarez, Mark Vientos, and Brett Baty, and the rookie card and first Mets card for Kodai Senga. The 150-card prospect set includes rising top prospects Kevin Parada, Jett Williams, and Alex Ramírez alongside the first cards for several other Mets prospects, totaling 8 Mets cards in all in the prospects set. Only the Boston Red Sox have more representation with 11.

You can also find autographs for rookies Francisco Álvarez and Brett Baty, along with prospects Kevin Parada, Alex Ramírez, William Lugo, Grant Hartwig, and Nick Morabito.

The 2023 Bowman Baseball product has exactly what Mets fans are looking for. Bowman Baseball will be released on April 26th.

Below is a full checklist of the Mets cards in the product.

Base

49 Francisco Álvarez (rookie card)
53 Max Scherzer
55 Mark Vientos (rookie card)
64 Justin Verlander
75 Kodai Senga (rookie card)
78 Pete Alonso
80 Brett Baty (rookie card)

Bowman Prospects

BP-12 Jesus Baez
BP-38 Simon Juan
BP-49 Jett Williams
BP-50 Alex Ramírez
BP-91 Kevin Parada
BP-102 Vincent Perozo
BP-141 William Lugo
BP-149 José Peroza

Bowman Chrome Prospects

BCP-12 Jesus Baez
BCP-38 Simon Juan
BCP-49 Jett Williams
BCP-50 Alex Ramírez
BCP-91 Kevin Parada
BCP-102 Vincent Perozo
BCP-141 William Lugo
BCP-149 José Peroza

Bowman Invicta

Bi-22 Simon Juan

Bowman Invicta Autographs

BI-22 Simon Juan

Bowman Prospects Autographs

PPA-GH Grant Hartwig

Bowman Scouts’ Top 100

BTP-27 Kevin Parada
BTP-59 Alex Ramírez
BTP-74 Jett Williams
BTP-94 Ronny Mauricio

Bowman Scouts’ Top 100 Autographs

BTP-27 Kevin Parada
BTP-59 Alex Ramírez

Bowman Spotlights

BS-12 Francisco Álvarez
BS-13 Brett Baty

Chrome Prospects Autographs

CPA-AR Alex Ramírez
CPA-JBZ Jesus Baez
CPA-JT Junior Tilien
CPA-NM Nick Morabito
CPA-WL William Lugo

Chrome Prospects Special Die-Cuts

BCPD-50 Alex Ramírez

Chrome Rookie Autographs

CRA-BB Brett Baty
CRA-FA Francisco Álvarez

Modern Prospects

MP-13 Simon Juan

Rookie of the Year Favorites

ROYF-2 Francisco Alvarez
ROYF-3 Brett Baty

Rookie if the Year Favorites Autographs

ROY-BBY Brett Baty

The post 2023 Bowman Baseball Loaded With Mets appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Topps has been burning a hole in the wallets of collectors throughout the hobby since the beginning of October with so many new releases, and they didn’t let the holidays stop them. In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the hobby saw the releases of Topps Heritage Minors, Bowman Platinum, and Bowman Draft.

2022 Topps Heritage Minors (L-R) Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, Alex Ramirez.

Topps Heritage Minors is what it sounds like…a minor league version of Topps Heritage. Released using the same 1973 Topps card design, Topps Heritage Minors is a 220-card that includes Prospect Stars at each position and League Leaders. The final 20 cards in the set are short prints and the base set also comes with five different serial numbered parallels for the first 200 cards in the set, image variations, and autographs.

Topps chose the basic Mets top prospects to include in the base set and there are no Mets short prints or autographs. The lack of signed cards from any of the Mets prospects included in the set seems a bit shortsighted. I was able to track down some reasonable listings on eBay to piece together the team set, but it took some time.

2022 Bowman Platinum (L-R) Francisco Lindor, Max Scherzer, Calvin Ziegler.

The Bowman Platinum release seems to be released quietly every year. It’s a simple 100-card set of veterans and rookies plus another 100-card Top Prospects set. Bowman Platinum is much different from every other Bowman release as it super imposes the player over a futuristic background. I’ve been able to find reasonable listings for all of the base set cards and the Top Prospects on eBay.

Included in the Bowman Platinum release is Topps’ continued infatuation of have a dozen different parallel sets, autographs, memorabilia cards, and several insert sets. Collectors will be extremely thrilled with the high volume of autographs included in the Bowman Platinum from their top prospects and other current and former stars.

Released just days before Christmas, Bowman Draft is always one of the hobby’s most sought after products on the release calendar. Bowman Draft is usually one of, it not the final product released by Topps every year due to Topps representatives running around the country trying to obtain signed contracts from the top players drafted in the June draft. Bowman Draft is not just recent draft picks, though. It also includes some of the game’s top prospects.

2022 Bowman Draft (L-R) Kevin Parada, Simon Juan, Jett Williams.

For 2022 Bowman Draft, they really outdid themselves as there are several autographed cards included in the set from Mets first round draft picks Kevin Parada and Jett Williams. Nevermind the fact that there are over a dozen different serial numbered parallels for Bowman Draft and the Chrome parallel. This set gives collectors and Mets fans alike the chance to get the first cards for both Parada and Williams.

Of course, with every release there is a downside. Parada and Williams are the only Mets draft picks to be found in the Bowman Draft base set and Simon Juan is the only Mets prospect, too. I would have loved to have seen someone like Mike Vasil make his cardboard debut, or possibly the inclusion of Alex Ramirez. I feel this was a huge missed opportunity. Finding a reasonable price for cards of Parada and Williams has proved challenging.

Below you will find a full checklist of the Mets cards included in Topps Heritage Minors, Bowman Platinum, and Bowman Draft.

2022 Topps Heritage Minors

Base
5 Mark Vientos – Syracuse Mets
16 Brett Baty – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
72 Francisco Alvarez – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
76 Alex Ramirez – St. Lucie Mets
115 Ronny Mauricio – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
184 Brett Baty – Prospect Stars – Binghamton Rumble Ponies
187 Francisco Alvarez – Prospect Stars – Brooklyn Cyclones

2022 Bowman Platinum
Base
9 Francisco Lindor
32 Max Scherzer
42 Jacob deGrom
56 Starling Marte
63 Tylor Megill (rookie card)
65 Pete Alonso
72 Nick Plummer (rookie card)

Top Prospects
TOP-65 Calvin Ziegler
TOP-74 Jaylen Palmer

Minted in Merit
MM-2 Brett Baty
MM-11 Ronny Mauricio
MM-12 Francisco Alvarez

Minted in Merit Autographs
MM-2 Brett Baty
MM-11 Ronny Mauricio
MM-12 Francisco Alvarez

Platinum Pairings Patch Relics
PLPP-AB Brett Baty/Francisco Alvarez
PLPP-CD Jacob deGrom/Gerrit Cole

Platinum Pairings Patch Relics Autographs
Gerrit Cole/Jacob deGrom
Francisco Alvarez/Brett Baty

Platinum Patches
PLP-BB Brett Baty
PLP-PA Pete Alonso

Platinum Patches Autographs
Brett Baty
Pete Alonso

Platinum Pieces Autograph Relics
PPAR-BB Brett Baty
PPAR-FA Francisco Alvarez

Platinum Plating Die-Cuts
PPDC-8 Pete Alonso

Platinum Plating Die-Cuts Autographs
PPDC-8 Pete Alonso

Precious Elements
PE-20 Francisco Alvarez

Precious Elements Autographs
PE-20 Francisco Alvarez

Top Prospects Autographs
TOP-65 Calvin Ziegler
TOP-74 Jaylen Palmer

2022 Bowman Draft
Bowman Base
BD-47 Kevin Parada
BD-52 Simon Juan
BD-190 Jett Williams

Bowman Chrome
BDC-47 Kevin Parada
BDC-52 Simon Juan
BDC-190 Jett Williams

Bowman Draft Night
BDN-4 Kevin Parada

Bowman Draft Night Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
Kevin Parada

Bowman Invicta
BI-9 Kevin Parada
BI-12 Jett Williams

Bowman Invicta Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
Jett Williams

Chrome Prospect Autographs
CDA-DS D’Andre Smith

Chrome Prospect Autographs
CDA-JWS Jett Williams
CDA-KP Kevin Parada
CDA-TST Tyler Stuart

Class of 2022 Autographs (serial numbered to 250)
C22A-JW Jett Williams
C22A-KP Kevin Parada

Franchise Futures Dual Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
FFDA-PW Kevin Parada/Jett Williams

Heir Apparent
HA-9 Kevin Parada
HA-12 Jett Williams

Heir Apparent Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
Jett Williams
Kevin Parada

Image Variations
BD-47 Kevin Parada

Image Variations Autographs (serial numbered to 99)
BD-47 Kevin Parada

Mood Ring
MR-6 Jett Williams
MR-9 Kevin Parada

Mood Ring Red Autographs (serial numbered to 5)
Jett Williams
Kevin Parada

Positioned for Excellence Autographs (serial numbered to 10)
PEA-HJLNWY Jett Williams/Cole Young/Zach Neto/Termarr Johnson/Brooks Lee/Jackson Holliday

The post Now Available: 2022 Bowman Draft, Topps Heritage Minors, Bowman Platinum appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Released just two days before Thanksgiving, 2022 Bowman Chrome has finally come to the market with such an obnoxious amount of refractor parallels to chase that collectors may actually forget that the base set exists.

Normally scheduled for a September release date, the 2022 product follows the tried-and-true formula with a 100-card base set of veterans and rookies and another 100 cards of prospects. The base set features a dozen different parallel refractors, serial numbered from one of one to 499. The prospects, on the other hand, have over two dozen different refractor parallels, also serial numbered from one of one to 499. As with the earlier released 2022 Bowman Baseball, Bowman Chrome utilizes the exact same card design. Even the different insert sets and autographed cards come in multiple refractor variations.

After viewing the checklist for the Bowman Chrome product, I couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed and even confused about the choices made for the inclusion of Mets prospects.

The base Chrome Prospects includes the first card of two Mets prospects, but top prospects are conspicuously absent, like Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio, or Brett Baty. Despite Baty’s absence in the base Chrome Prospects set, he does appear in some of the insert sets.

It’s definitely possible that I may change my mind about 2022 Bowman Chrome, but thus far, it appears to be a bit of dud. Bowman still has the Bowman Draft product to be released, which will include prospects and players selected in the 2022 MLB Draft. This will give collectors and fans alike the possibility of the first Mets cards of draft picks Kevin Parada and Jett Williams.

Below is a checklist of the Mets cards found in 2022 Bowman Chrome.

Base

11 Pete Alonso
62 Max Scherzer
73 Francisco Lindor
97 Starling Marte

Chrome Prospects

BCP-170 Simon Juan
BCP-184 Franciso Alvarez
BCP-196 Willy Fanas

2021 AFL Fall Stars

AFLS-19 Brett Baty

2021 AFL Fall Stars Autographs

AFLS-19 Brett Baty

2021 AFL Relic Autographs

Brett Baty

2021 AFL Relics

AFLR-BB Brett Baty

Chrome Prospect Autographs

CPA-JS JT Schwartz
CPA-KK Kevin Kendall
CPA-SJ Simon Juan
CPA-WF Willy Fanas

The post 2022 Bowman Chrome Released With a Thud appeared first on Metsmerized Online.