Rookie of the Year Sleepers and Their Cards

Spring training is now in swing. Full and split squad games have started in earnest over the past weeks and fans and collectors are continuing to get opportunities to see exciting prospects getting their first action in MLB camps. Many collectors and fans already know about a lot of the top prospects as myself and my colleagues have written about them; however, I wanted to take a look at some of the dark horse favorites to win rookie of the year and their cards. This article will focus on players in the National League and a future article will discuss potential American League Rookie of the Year candidates.

Matt Shaw, 3B Chicago Cubs

Matt Shaw’s pro career has so far gotten off to a very strong start. Shaw finished his first full season of professional baseball in AAA Iowa for the Cubs and came as advertised with solid power, good bat to ball skills, and impressively 30 plus steals. Shaw also appears to have found a home at third base for the Cubs and has a strong chance to break camp with the big league roster. Shaw made his product debut in Bowman 2023 and was one of the upper end chases in that product. Recent base auto sales for Shaw have come in the $120-150 range, a respectable value that could go up a lot if he plays as expected.

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Bubba Chandler SP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Bubba Chandler not only has a fantastic baseball name but a fantastic pitching arsenal to go along with it. Initially drafted and developed as a two way player, Chandler saw his stock soar after he focused only on pitching. His average fastball velocity last was close to 97 MPH which was the second highest in the minors. While he’ll inevitably get compared to Paul Skenes by fans and collectors because of the team he’s on, I doubt he’ll get the same hype. That’s not to say that Chandler isn’t going to be good or even great, just that the bar set by Skenes is ridiculously high. Drafted in 2021, Chandler also made his Topps product debut in Bowman Draft 2021. Currently, his base auto is selling for between $100-150 raw with a recent gold auto selling for $500 per 130 point.

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Chase Dollander SP, Colorado Rockies

The bad news for Chase Dollander fans and collectors is that he will make half his starts in Colorado. For that reason, Dollander may represent the ultimate dark horse on this list. There is good news though. The good news is that he’s probably the best pitching prospect the Rockies have ever had. The number 8th pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Dollander was getting buzz as a possible number one overall pick after slipping to the Rockies. If any pitcher could succeed at Coors field it would be Dollander who has an explosive fastball to go along with above average secondary pitches. Currently Dollander does not have any autos available in Topps products but does have a few autos in unlicensed and college Panini and Leaf products.