Beckett Sports Card Hot / Cold – May 14, 2022

Welcome to another edition of Beckett Sports Card Hot/Cold where we take a fun and quick look at what’s hot and what’s not in the worlds of sports cards and sports.

Welcome to prospect season. 2022 Bowman Baseball has been dominating a lot of buzz and breaks in its first full calendar week since its release. For many, it’s the chase for players who might be great in a couple of years. For others, it’s about looking up who the autograph or Refractor is that they found and trying to figure out if they’re any good. This year, the Chrome Prospect Autographs checklist is a massive 89 players. Going by the law of averages, a handful should eventually pan out. But there will also be many that don’t make it out of the minors. Both the victory and the misery are a huge part of modern baseball card prospecting.

The biggest knock on Mike Trout is the fact that he’s never been on an Angels team that has been in contention. It’s still very early, but things may have changed. Thus far, both Los Angeles’ offense and pitching have been strong. Trout isn’t the only reason the team is surging, but after a couple of quiet years, he’s back in his perennial MVP form. Not surprisingly, his cards are also drawing heavier interest of late — which isn’t an easy thing considering he’s been one of the biggest names in the hobby already for the last decade.

Watch out for Yordan Alvarez. The slugger is doing just that for the Astros. So far, he’s got 11 on the season including three in the past week.