Seby Zavala is a Major League Baseball catcher who made his debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2018. While still early in his career, Zavala has shown promise both at the plate and behind it. As a result, many baseball card collectors have started to take notice of the young backstop and are adding Seby Zavala cards to their collections.
Zavala was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox as an international free agent in 2012 out of Moca, Dominican Republic. He spent his first few professional seasons in the Red Sox farm system before being selected by the White Sox in the 2017 Rule 5 draft. This change of scenery allowed Zavala’s career to take off as he started to establish himself as one of Chicago’s top catching prospects.
In 2018, Zavala’s first full season with the White Sox organization, he hit .257 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. His impressive power numbers started to gain him recognition within the baseball card collecting community. Some of the notable Seby Zavala cards from 2018 include inserts and parallels from Allen & Ginter, Bowman, Bowman Sterling, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Draft, Goudey, Leaf, Stadium Club, Topps, Topps Chrome, Topps Series 1 & 2, and Topps Tribute. Many consider his 2018 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor #132 card to be one of his more desirable rookie issue cards from that year.
Zavala received his first major league call up in September of 2018 and made his MLB debut against the Detroit Tigers on September 4th. While he did not record a hit in three pinch hitting appearances that season, the mere fact he had reached the highest level of professional baseball by age 24 was impressive. It led to increased interest from collectors in Zavala cards from larger flagship releases like Topps and Bowman hoping to acquire a rookie card of a player with upside.
In 2019, Zavala split time between Triple-A Charlotte and Chicago, appearing in a career-high 30 games for the White Sox. He hit his first major league home run on May 12th against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. This breakout season further amplified collecting of Seby Zavala cards from 2019 releases. Popular cardboard includes prizm parallels from Prizm, Optic, and Flux. Additional prospect cards came Holiday, Gypsy Queen, Stadium Club, Ginter, Archives, Definitive and Chrome Draft Picks. Arguably his top card remains the Inception Green Parallel /25.
The 2020 minor league season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Zavala still managed to appear in 17 games for the White Sox. He picked up his first career multi-hit and multi-RBI games on September 12th against the Cubs. Although Zavala does not have any cards from 2020 flagship sets due to the pandemic shortening the season, collectors pursued parallels and inserts featuring the now established major leaguer. Cards like Topps Fire, Topps Gold Label, and Topps Big League remain popular holds for those following his career.
In 2021 Zavala had his most significant season to date, spending the entire year as Chicago’s back up catcher. He established new career-highs with 52 games played and 18 runs batted in. Defensively, Zavala threw out an impressive 42% of would-be base stealers. This breakout earned him more playing time down the stretch and a clear path towards a regular role. As a result, collector interest in Zavala cards from 2021 increased substantially. Key rookies and parallels include Topps Chrome, Bowman Chrome, Stadium Club, GQ, Definitive, and Prizm.
Through strong performances at the plate and his defensive skills, Seby Zavala has transformed himself from an unknown international signing to an important depth piece for the White Sox. At just 26 years old, he figures to continue improving and could develop into an everyday catcher. For collectors, Zavala’s evolving role within the organization and on-field success makes his cards an intriguing long-term speculate. Especially for those who acquired rookie issues early in the process. With continued major league at-bats in 2022, Zavala’s card values stand to rise further for patient collectors bracing for a potential breakout campaign.