Nick Loftin is a professional baseball player who was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the third round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft out of Baylor University. While he hasn’t reached the major leagues yet, Loftin has started to garner interest from baseball card collectors due to his rising prospect status in the Royals organization. In this article, we will take an in-depth look at Nick Loftin baseball cards, providing details on cards from his amateur and minor league career so far while analyzing his potential for future card releases and investment opportunities.
As an amateur player at Baylor, Loftin did not have any official baseball cards produced during his collegiate career. He began to gain minor notoriety among cardboard collectors after being selected by the Royals in 2017’s draft class. That year, Loftin was included in a handful of 2017 Bowman Draft baseball card sets due to his draft positioning. His main rookie card from that set carries a photo of him in a Baylor uniform and is numbered BD-NL.
After signing with the Royals, Loftin was assigned to their rookie-level affiliate in Burlington, Iowa to begin his professional career in 2018. That season marked his true baseball card rookie debut, as he was prominently featured in 2018 Bowman Draft and Bowman Prospects sets. His standard Bowman Draft rookie card shows him posing in a Burlington Bees uniform and carries the designation of RD-NL. Meanwhile, a parallel “Paper” variation of that same card with gold printing and the code PRD-NL also emerged that year.
Loftin’s breakout 2018 season with Burlington led to higher card valuations beginning in 2019. That’s when he started receiving prospect cards in mainstream Topps brand sets after being named one of the top second basemen in the Royals farm system. His main 2019 Topps Prospects card places him 80th on the Top 100 Prospects list and features a headshot photo. That particular card has increased in secondary market value as Loftin’s stock has risen the past two seasons.
A prime example of Loftin’s surging prospect notoriety is seen in 2020 Bowman Draft products. That year, he was granted significantly rarer parallel card variations compared to past releases. This included short printed blue refractors numbered to /150 pieces and super-fractors that are case-hit limited edition cards. The increasing scarcity and value ascribed to Loftin’s modern cards exemplifies his growing hype among baseball insiders and investor communities.
After batting a combined .295 between A-ball Lexington and high-A Wilmington in 2019, Loftin was invited to his first big league Spring Training in 2020. The minor league season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He still received prospect nods in 2020 Topps products and Chrome Update sets based on his potential. This kept Loftin’s name relevant among card collectors until he could return to game action.
That opportunity finally came in 2021 as minor league play resumed. Loftin began the season back at Wilmington where he slashed .324/.387/.462 before a mid-summer promotion to double-A Northwest Arkansas. His continued development there elevated him to become the fifth ranked prospect in the loaded Royals system according to MLB Pipeline. That pipeline spotting was reflected by Loftin once again landing inside the Top 100 on the 2021 Topps Prospects checklist at #91.
Loftin entered 2022 as one of the elite second base prospects in baseball and looked primed for his first triple-A assignment with the Omaha Storm Chasers. He suffered an injury setback that has kept him sidelined for much of the season so far. While that development stalled his major league timeline, Loftin is still coveted in the hobby. His rookie autograph cards from recent Topps Chrome and Bowman Draft releases command premium pricing on the secondary market.
Going forward, Loftin has all the tools to become an everyday second baseman in the majors should he regain his health. If called up to Kansas City this season or early next year, expect his prospect cards to spike in value as investors look to get in ahead of his rookie season. And once he debuts, annual flagship Rookie Card releases from Topps and Bowman would gain instant notoriety. But even if injuries slow his rise further, Loftin has proven himself a true prospect worth following for both baseball and collecting purposes. With his elite contact skills and strong minor league production, the 25-year-old could blossom into an All-Star caliber player in due time.
While Nick Loftin has yet to reach the majors, the baseball cards documenting his prospect journey thus far exhibit his growing cachet in the hobby. From his draft day Bowman cards to ensuing prospect standouts in Topps and Chrome, collectors have tracked Loftin’s ascent through the Royals system. As his career trajectory remains uncertain due to the current injury, interest in his available rookie cards provides an intriguing long-term investment proposition. And if he achieves stardom at the game’s highest level, Loftin’s early cardboard could foreseeably bring sizable returns in the collectibles market. Either way, his story continues to unfold in an intriguing manner for both Kansas City fans and sports memorabilia aficionados alike.
