Yennier Cano Baseball Cards: The Journey of a Prospect
Yennier Cano was signed by the New York Mets as an international free agent in July 2014 out of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. He began his professional baseball career just a few months later in 2015 playing for one of the Mets’ rookie league teams in the Dominican Summer League. While he did not have an overpowering debut, Cano showed promising raw tools that excited scouts and card collectors alike.
As a 17-year-old in his first season of professional ball in 2015, Cano hit .232 with 2 home runs and 13 RBI over 43 games played in the Dominican Summer League. He did not have any officially licensed baseball cards released from his debut season as rookie league stats are usually not flashy enough to warrant inclusion in the major set releases from companies like Topps, Panini, and Leaf. However, Cano’s tools began to gain attention which led to him receiving prospects cards in 2016 and beyond.
In 2016, Cano received one of his first notable baseball card appearances as part of Panini’s 2016 Prizm Baseball product. The card featured Cano in the Mets’ minor league uniform with a blue border and stats from his 2015 DSL campaign. While not a base set card by any means, appearing in Prizm as a prospect provided early exposure for collectors to take notice of Cano’s budding talents. He followed up his debut season by hitting .267 with 3 homers and 23 RBI over 60 games split between the DSL and the Mets’ Rookie Advanced club in Kingsport.
The 2017 season marked a breakout for Cano as he began receiving widespread prospect recognition. Topps included Cano in their 2017 Topps Series 1 release, giving him one of his first mainstream base set cards. Featuring an action photo of Cano taking a lead off first base in his Kingsport uniform, it marked his coming of age status amongst Mets prospects. Statistically, Cano also took a step forward by slashing .287/.360/.468 with 8 home runs and 46 RBI over 72 games combined between Kingsport and Class-A Short Season Brooklyn.
Entering 2018, Cano established himself as one of the top Cuban prospects in all of minor league baseball and started receiving hype from national prospect analysts. His improved play led to inclusions in prized sets like Topps Chrome, Bowman Chrome, and Topps Prospects. Many considered these “hit” cards that collectors eagerly sought after. On the field, Cano continued developing by posting a .283 average with 15 homers and 69 RBI over 113 games split between Class-A and Class-A Advanced.
The momentum really took off for Cano in 2019 when he broke out with career-high stats across the board. Splitting the season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, he batted .293 with 21 HR and 81 RBI in 123 total games. Such a power spike made Cano one of the top power-hitting prospects in the minors and truly put him on the map. Predictably, his prospect cards from 2019 releases shot up in value as collectors realized they held cards featuring a rising star. Bowman Chrome Atomic Refractors and Topps Chrome Superfractors of Cano became highly coveted variations.
Heading into the lost 2020 minor league season, most outlets viewed Cano as the best overall prospect in the entire Mets farm system and a potential future major league starter. While he missed valuable development time that year, collectors eagerly awaited Cano’s inclusion in the 2021 series like Bowman, Topps, and Chrome. Despite no official stats to include on the back, his prospect status alone landed Cano multiple base cards across releases. Many saw it as the final year to acquire Cano rookie cards before his inevitable MLB debut.
That debut finally arrived in 2021 when Cano broke camp with the New York Mets following a strong Spring Training performance. He made his first major league plate appearance on April 9th against the Philadelphia Phillies and finished his partial cup-of-coffee rookie season hitting .183 with one home run over 23 games. While certainly not ideal stats, just appearing in the big leagues realized the journey Cano had been on since signing as an international prospect seven years prior. His debut season cards from 2021 are sure to be valued as the first official MLB issues after such an arduous minor league climb.
Yennier Cano has emerged from a budding prospect to an established top-100 caliber talent in the minors to finally making The Show with the New York Mets. His constantly improving play and rising prospect status over the years has paralleled his baseball card collections growth from an unknown commodity to one of the most sought after Cuban prospects on the hobby market. For collectors who followed Cano’s journey from the beginning via his early prospect cards in Panini, Topps, and Bowman, they now hold artifacts chronicling the complete rise of a promising international signing finding success both on the field and in the collecting world. While still early in his major league career, Cano has developed from a project to player with legitimate starting potential. Collectors will be watching to see if his cards continue to gain in popularity and demand along with his on-field progress.
