The 2018 Bowman baseball card season was one of the most anticipated in years due to the influx of exciting young prospects throughout baseball and the hobby. Bowman is considered the premiere brand for focusing on minor leaguers and top draft picks, making its releases each year a go-to for collectors seeking the stars of tomorrow.
The flagship 2018 Bowman product released in April and had collector interest through the roof. With prospects like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Eloy Jimenez, Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Juan Soto gracing packs, expectations were high. Each of those prospects delivered monster rookie seasons in 2018 as well, helping drive interest in their Bowman cards even higher.
Guerrero Jr., still considered the top overall prospect in baseball at the time, was extremely sought after in his handful of 2018 Bowman offerings. His paper base card settled around $10-15 each while parallels and autographs could fetch hundreds or more. Expect his values to continue climbing each time he hits a home run for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Equally as hyped was Eloy Jimenez’s cards after racking up minor league stats that had scouts drooling. Playing in the White Sox system, Bowman captured him in both his base Chicago uniform as well as in some Colorado Rockies gear from a past trade. With scouts comparing him to Giancarlo Stanton as a power hitter, collectors jumped all over Jimenez’s 2018 Bowman rookies.
Internationally, Ronald Acuna Jr. had established himself as one of the most exciting prospects in baseball the year prior. But 2018 saw him have a true breakout season with the Atlanta Braves that immediately took his cards to new heights. At just 21 years old, Acuna became the youngest player ever to hit 26 homers before the All-Star break. His cards rocketed up accordingly on the strength of his MLB exploits.
Shohei Ohtani’s highly anticipated transition from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Angels also created a frenzy around any of his scarce 2018 Bowman releases. Considered a true five-tool star with potential for huge offensive and pitching contributions, collectors paid top dollar to obtain Ohtani’s first Major League cards in English.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2018 MLB season though came from Juan Soto, who barely cracked prospect rankings a year prior. Summoned rapidly through the Washington Nationals system, Soto became the youngest MLB player ever to hit a home run in the World Series at age 19 and immediately jumped into superstar status. His Bowman rookies skyrocketed as a result of his breakout campaign despite not being a marquee name a year earlier.
Beyond the headliners, 2018 Bowman did an excellent job profiling other future stars creeping up prospect lists and draft boards from the year prior. Names like Forrest Whitley, Brendan Rodgers, Austin Riley, Kyle Tucker, and Kyle Wright filled packs and provided affordable opportunities to invest in tomorrow’s top talents. All were among Baseball America’s preseason top 50 prospects.
Parallels and inserts in 2018 Bowman added layers of collecting interest as well, as players like Sixto Sanchez, Nick Senzel, and Shane Bieber received lower print run refractors, negatives, and autos that take on greater significance given their MLB breakouts the following seasons. And vintage stock style cards blending current prospects with archived team logos created a nostalgic collecting element.
On the postseason front, Bowman Draft and Bowman’s Best brought additional first Major League cards for the class while also seeding the next wave of names to watch from the most recent draft like Jarred Kelenic, Nolan Gorman, Riley Greene, and Bryson Stott. And international signings gained recognition through exclusive cards of Wander Franco, Adrian Hernandez, and Luis Matos.
The 2018 Bowman season did an exemplary job of showcasing the influx of young talent reshaping Major League Baseball rosters and record books. With so many of the featured players graduating to stardom so rapidly, it created a special time for collectors able to tap into the season and take positions in cards that would see explosive gains in value as careers took shape. Few other years rivaled 2018’s crop of future superstars crossing over Bowman packs.
