Three Bounce Back Prospects and Their Cards
Many times a prospect gets hyped and fails to meet expectations. Yet there are a select few that start slow, are hobby forgotten or written off, and then bounce back. It's great to see and it makes for even better baseball and hobby storylines. Here are three that seem to be turning it around after moderate or even failed first trips to the big leagues.
- Tyler Soderstrom
Tyler Soderstrom was a highly touted hitter coming out of high school. The A's (then Oakland A's) made him the 26th overall selection in the 2020 MLB Draft. His first season in professional baseball was in 2021 and he'd go on to hit .306 with 12 home runs and almost 50 RBI. He shot up the prospect list.
In 2023 he got his first taste of the bigs but hit well under the Mendoza Line at .166. He hit three home runs to go along with just seven RBI in 45 games. His 2024 season was an improvement, but still pedestrian with just a .233 batting average with nine home runs in more than 60 games.
Fast forward to 2025 and we're seeing a completely different player. In just 16 games he's hitting over .300 and already has six home runs, two-thirds of his 2024 season total. He also has increased his RBI projection. Last season total he had 26, he already has 11 now.
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Soderstrom's 1st Bowman autograph comes out of 2020 Bowman Chrome. It's relatively inexpensive, with eBay sold listings showing prices around $50 for a raw version, and about $150-$250 for one in a PSA 10.
- Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal is the reigning Cy Young Award winner from the American League. So it's hard be believe he should be on a 'bounce back' list. However, it wasn't that long ago that Skubal went from a top prospect in the Tigers' organization to potential back end starter journeyman.
While he had a stint in the minors in 2023, most of his career minor league stats come from 2018 and 2019, and those stats were spectacular. He never had an ERA above 2.5 and he had over 200 strikeouts in 2018 and 2019 combined.
But Skubal as a big leaguer was less impressive. Though he improved his ERA from 2020 to 2023 he never had a winning record and had one season with a strikeout total of more than 120.
But since the beginning of last year Skubal has looked like the prospect everyone saw in the late 2010's. He ended last season with a 2.39 ERA, a win loss record of 18-4 and over 200 strikeouts in just 192 innings pitched, capped of by the Cy Young Award.
Skubals Bowman Chrome 1st, like Soderstrom, comes out of the 2020 product. With his Cy Young success you'll have to pay about $100 for a raw autograph of his. A glance at eBay sold listings shows about that $100 mark for the card, with the PSA 10 version going for around $300.
- Spencer Torkelson
Spencer Torkelson was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft and immediately was heralded as the next power hitting prospect. He just one whole season in the minors during the 2021 year. He hit a whopping 30 home runs and 91 RBI and fans were salivating over his potential.
Having been drafted out of college at Arizona State, he was pushed through the minors quick as he had some seasoning already in the amateur leagues. He made the 2022 Opening Day roster and got his first major league hit on April 12th.
But it's been slow since. He hasn't hit over .235 and had only one season (2023) with a nice home run mark at 31. His 2022 season and 2023 season were low in that category, hitting just 8 and 10 respecitvely.
Torkelson seems to be a different animal early in the 2025 season. He was hitting over .300 and has already amassed five home runs and 12 RBI. He has increased every stastical category so far and even has a stolen base, which is one-fourth of his career numbers. He had three stolen bases before the 2025 season.
Torkelson is also, like the above two, has his 1st Bowman Chrome autograph in a 2020 product. However, unlike the first two on the list, his card has seen an enormous increase. According to Card Ladder, this card was going for $150 in early March. The last reported sale to Card Ladder occurred about 4 weeks later in late March for $250. Though it has hit higher sales before. In August 2023 Card Ladder reported a sale for nearly $400. And even before that this card was going for four figures, but it's hard to tell true market value when those sales occurred right around the boom between 2021 and 2022.
Honarable Mention: Brice Turang.
Turang is hitting .333 (he's never hit over .255) and has three home runs (he had seven all of last season).
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz