Our 2024 Bowman Draft Player Rankings is for baseball card collectors looking to improve their prospects collection!
We consider 2024 Bowman Draft as the top release for collectors looking to pick up prospect cards and the coveted Bowman 1st cards for recently drafted players. While the “Bowman 1st” card is not a player’s true rookie card, according to most traditional collectors, they still carry value and are highly collectible.
The most recent version of 2024 Bowman Draft is set to release on Dec 4th in three different product versions:
Since Topps removed the Lite Hobby Box from the inventory a few years ago, many of us now have transitioned to buying
singles or buying into team breaks because spending $500 on a box is just too much.
If you enjoy collecting prospect cards and work on a limited budged then this is the article for you. We are going to
give you three different rankings below:
The 2024 Bowman Draft Player Rankings below are based mainly off draft orders, pre-draft rankings, and rankings on MLB Pipeline
based on limited playing time for most of these players after being drafted. With that said, it will be several years before anyone will truly know who the best players were, so please realize these are our best guess.
These guys rank out as the best players who have Bowman 1st cards available in the 2024 Bowman Draft set. Based on the pedigree and high draft positions of these players, singles will still be a bit expensive. For these players, I recommend chasing chrome version of their card and maybe chrome refractors if you can find a good deal. Of note, there are some top draft picks that are not included and you will most likely find their cards in the 2024 Bowman Baseball set.
1. Travis Bazzana: After being selected #1 overall by the Cleveland Guardians, the Second Baseman got his feet wet at the High-A level where the 22-year-old played in 22 games. He will be a long shot to make it to the MLB in 2025, but he will get every opportunity to prove he belongs.
2. Jac Caglianone: The 21-year-old was selected #6 overall by the KC Royals who love his versatility as pitcher and first baseman, the top two-way player in the draft. He debuted at High-A last season and for now the Royals are content to let him work on being the next Shohei.
3. Nick Kurtz: After being selected #4 overall by the Athletics, the 21-year-old was fast tracked to Double-A and will have a very solid shot at opening the 2026 season on the MLB roster.
4. Konnor Griffin: The Pirates made the 18-year-old SS/CF the first high school player drafted when they took him at #9 overall. He projects more as a SS and when looking at the Pirates farm system, there is no one really standing in his way, the job is his for the future if he performs.
5. Braden Montgomery: Boston took the 21-year-old #12 overall and he will start the season in rookie ball. He has the tools to hit for both power and average and his above average arm make him a plus defender in the outfield.
6. Chase Burns: The Reds made the 21-year-old Burns the first pitcher selected in the draft, taking him #2 overall. Burns can throw the heat but will need to fine tune his slider and changeup to be an ace. Despite being the second overall pick as a pitcher, it would be unfair to expect him to be the next Paul Skenes, so expect him in the MLB around 2027.
7. Bryce Rainer: The Tigers made the 19-year-old short stop the second high school player selected. His defense over the summer was on point so expect him to stick at SS and the great thing about the Tigers is they like to promote young players.
8. Christian Moore: The Angels took the 22-year-old second baseman 8th overall and have already moved him up to Double-A. Based on the Angels aggressiveness with young players and Moore’s great start at Double-A, he has a real shot at being a late call-up in 2025 if he can continue to hit.
9. Hagen Smith: The White Sox made the 21-year-old the second pitcher selected when they drafted him #5 overall. He was one of the few pitchers to get some experience in 2024 at the High-A level where his low arm release can be very deceptive and hard for hitters to pick up.
10. James Tibbs III: Coming out of FSU, the 22-year-old proved to be a great asset both in the outfield and at first base. Each year in college he improved his batting statistics and you can expect the same as he works up the farm system in San Francisco.
11. Carson Benge: The Mets love the 21-year-olds plus arm in the outfield, giving him the ability to play both Right Field and Center. His plus exit velocity was nearly unmatched in college making him a legit threat.
These guys are players who project to be more valuable than where they got drafted. These are the kind of guys who had great draft ranking but slid down the draft board, usually for reasons like signing bonuses are bad fits for the teams drafting. These guys should give you the option of chasing after a parallel or numbered version of their cards, maybe even an auto as well.
I was looking for players that had the biggest difference between where they were ranked and were they got drafted and then I adjusted for position and age.
As you can see, I didn’t rank totally based on the difference in selection and rank. I penalized the pitchers a little bit because they are such wildcards with the injury potential. The top two guys really stand out from their pre-draft ranking to where they were selected, these are the guys to really target with a nice parallel.
For those of you interested in entering a break, I made a table to rank the teams. For these rankings, I considered the number of Bowman 1st cards per team. The base set has 200 players in it of which 121 of the cards will be Bowman 1st, while the other 79 will be prospect cards for players who had a Bowman 1st in a previous release.
I also make a breakdown of the cards based on players taken from college vs. high school and position players vs pitchers. Lastly, I included a column for teams which will have their first-round pick included in the set as not all team’s first rounders will be included in this set.
In my rankings, I valued teams with more cards and teams with more position players. To break it down even further, I looked at the value of the first-round pick and their position. The Top 10 would make solid pickups in any break, while Miami is just outside due to their first-rounder not being included in the set.
I would avoid the bottom eight teams, unless your favorite team is here, then go for it as you should get a good price. The Giants are all the way at 22 despite only having 2 players with 1st Bowman cards because they are both position players and both had good enough pre-draft rankings that they could each have been selected in the first round.
Now that you know who to target, the question is when to make your purchases. Bowman Draft releases on Dec. 4 , so I would wait at least a month before beginning your search. Give it time for the eBay market to get saturated with cards and the prices will begin to drop. You want to find that happy medium between release date and the beginning of baseball talks.
2024 Bowman Draft is set to release on Dec. 4th:
In January the focus should be on football and that is when you can potentially score a great deal on a card. One additional tip, if you win
a card, check out what else the seller has. If they have one Bowman Draft card, they are bound to have others. Work out a deal on combined shipping and see if you can’t get two or three cards from the same seller, maybe even grab a long shot and stash it in a box for a few years, you never know.
I love Bowman Draft and collecting prospect cards. As a collector, I try to buy low and sell high. To me, that means when I find a guy I like, I try to buy two cards if I can. In that case, I will keep one and sell the other if they hit it big time. As a collector first though, I know I am rarely going to make my money back on these and that is okay with me.
What I like most about prospect cards is watching the games and seeing a guy make it and then realizing I have his Bowman 1st in a box somewhere! Let us know who we missed, what we got wrong, and who you like in this release!
Good luck with your pickup an as always, have a #HappyHobby!
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