If you’re a sports fan, you likely are familiar with the “Power Rankings” concept, which basically is a set of rankings that gets updated over different intervals. This is a “Rookie Card Power Rankings” list where we rank the best 2024 Topps rookie cards which include all three flagship series from the past year.
We include the best 2024 rookie cards from 2024 Topps Series 1, 2024 Topps Series 2, and 2024 Topps Update. Why do sports card collectors need this? Well, those three series combined to create 233 rookie cards for the 2024 season!
Collectors don’t want to chase 233 rookie cards if they don’t have to, so we broke it down to just the 15 best 2024 Topps rookie cards to hunt down.
Here are my articles where I originally ranked the best 2024 Topps rookie cards for each series individually.
Most of the sports card links on this page will take you to eBay. That means I will get a commission on the sales from this page. If you end up buying from these links, I personally thank you for supporting my website! Even if you don’t buy anything, thank you for reading my article! Enjoy!
We combined the 2024 Topps Series 1, Series 2 to Topps Update checklists to determine the best 2024 Topps rookie cards from each flagship series release!
I fought it for a while, having a pitcher atop our 2024 Topps Rookie Cards power rankings, but there’s no question this is the card everyone would draft first overall in a 2024 RC Fantasy Draft.
Card collectors want flame-throwing pitchers, and that’s exactly what Skenes proved to be, striking out 209 batters in just 122 2/3 innings. His 1.96 ERA is the lowest mark for any Rookie of the Year pitcher – ever! His 11.5 K/9 is second-best all-time for any ROY pitcher, just behind the 12.6 number Kerry Wood put up in 1998.
Skenes’ rookie season was one of the best ever by a pitcher, and his cardboard value shows it. Can he stay super collectable? Can he stay healthy? Can the Pirates get him into the playoffs at some point? The guess is yes right now, as he leads our 2024 RC Rankings!
View Paul Skenes Topps Gold Rookie Cards on eBay!
We’ve heard about Chourio’s rising star for a couple years now, and the fact he became the youngest player to make his MLB debut on Opening Day batting leadoff since 1937 got us a little over-excited about him! He had a quiet start to the season, but
The Brewers had a stroller stocked with non-alcoholic drinks waiting for him in the clubhouse after they clinched a playoff berth! He’s the youngest player to ever post a 20 HR/20 SB season, at just 20 years old (he’ll be 21 in March).
That youth. Those stats. That swing. It took a monster season from the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg to keep Chourio’s rookie card out of the top spot in our 2024 RC Rankings.
Chourio’s Topps Gold price is actually the fifth-highest on this list, and I still rank him second. That might be a bargain in a year or two.
View Jackson Chourio Topps Gold Rookie Cards on eBay!
Among the top players on this list, Merrill is the biggest surprise, considering he was the third-most popular “Jackson” entering 2024, and the Padres moved him from shortstop to center field (he never played a game at center field in the minors). He finished the season as the best rookie hitter in baseball, with a slugging percentage higher than Mookie Betts, Pete Alonso and Freddie Freeman.
While shortstops have a higher profile for collectors, Merrill will likely stick in center field going forward, and collectors won’t care.
With a 5.3 WAR, Merrill ranked in the top-15 among all MLB hitters – not just rookies. While Skenes and Chourio rank above him now from a card-collecting perspective, Merrill could surpass both in 2025 and no one would be surprised.
Notice that his Topps Gold price is the third-most expensive on the list – so the masses currently disagree with me ranking him third.
From the end of the 2023 season, baseball card collectors everywhere were ready for 2024 Topps Series 1 because we knew Elly De La Cruz’s rookie card was likely going to be on the checklist.
ELDC did not disappoint! He led both leagues in stolen bases with 67, and he was one of just five players to steal 25 bags and hit 25 or more home runs, joining Bobby Witt Jr., Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez. People gripe about his 31.3% strikeout rate, but he’ll still be just 23 years old next season, and he’s a physical specimen with power, speed and promise.
De La Cruz has the second-highest price for his Topps Gold cards, but it’s tough for me to rank him ahead of any of the guys above him right now.
The No. 1 overall pick in 2022 stumbled out of the gate, but corrections were made in the minors, and he got to learn out of the spotlight during the Orioles’ pennant chase. Baltimore is built to last and Holliday’s arrows are still pointing up considering he’s still just 21 years old.
View Jackson Holliday Topps Gold Rookie Cards on eBay!
While a lot was expected from one of the very few players to start the year in the Opening Day lineup following the year he was drafted, Langford needed time to heat up. Just three other rookies had more RBI than the Florida product, and those three averaged 16 more games played and about 25 more plate appearances. With 30/30 potential, Langford is someone you can quietly collect on the cheap, compared to the superstars above him.
We’ve seen two partial seasons in the majors for Caminero, and in spite of the hype and excitement surrounding him, there hasn’t been a ton of production (7 HR, 19 RBI in 213 plate appearances). However, no one doubts his ability to crush the ball, and the 116.3 mph max exit velocity agrees. At just 21 years old in 2025, Caminero will be the best bat in a Rays uniform. He led the Series 2 rookies, and the Topps Update group buried him a little in collectors’ minds.
This rookie class is so stocked, Dominguez, a stellar hitting prospect in the Yankees organization, has his rookie card ranked eighth! An elbow injury ended his 2023 season early, and the Yankees’ playoff chase kept them from giving him regular at-bats once he was healthy mid-2024. Dominguez is just 21 years old, coming off a minor-league season in which he slashed .314/.376/.880 with 11 HR and 35 RBI in 58 games.
The Martian is coming – and he’ll start in left field for the new-look Bronx Bombers, who will also have Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt in their lineup.
Being one of the best defensive players in the game is a good way to get playing time, and then seeing success atop of the Cardinals lineup is a good way to remain in the minds of collectors.
Admittedly, I didn’t have Butler ranked in my top 15 when I first wrote this article. Someone pointed out my mistake on my YouTube video, so I put the A’s new breakout star in my top 10. He certainly has room to rise, possibly up into top-seven status!
While the Athletics won’t be playing in Oakland anymore, Sacramento (and eventually Las Vegas) card collectors are going to love Butler’s game.
After struggling out of the game this season and earning a demotion, Butler returned in June and exploded in July. Turning 25 in 2025, Butler is a little older than prospects we love with similar ceilings, but his power/speed combo and the excitement surrounding the Athletics’ move could raise his collectability levels nicely!
While Shota Imanaga finished with the better stats, by a long shot, Yamamoto is still the best 2024 rookie pitcher not named Skenes. Yamamoto is also five years younger than Imanaga, with a World Series ring, and a chance to add more rings in the coming seasons.
Rank Carter among the discounted 2024 disappointments that could become great bounce-back players in 2025. Carter proved to be a huge part of the Rangers’ 2023 World Series run, but he started 2024 slow – then suffered a stress reaction in his back in late May, adding injury to insult. He was a top-five prospect entering 2024, though.
Imanaga was off to a record-setting start to his career, but he hit a speed bump in June (5.67 ERA) and people wrote him off. But he went 8-1 with a 2.75 ERA from July through September with the Cubs. Unfortunately, he was already over the hill (30 years old) for collectors in his rookie season, and he’s not going to get younger.
Part of the reason 2024 is such an amazing year for great rookie cards is because there are still some golden prospects we can grab on the cheap. Lawlar was Arizona’s top prospect coming into the season, ranked ninth overall by MLB.com, but a torn ligament in his right thumb and a pulled hamstring limited the 22-year-old prospect to just 23 games in 2024. He hit well in Winter Ball in the Dominican League, but he will have to fight for a job in 2025, as the D-Backs are locked up on the left side, which means he might be a fill-in at short, third and second.
At the heart of the Tigers lineup, Keith has a chance to grab more attention as this team continues to progress in the coming years.
(I added a bonus one because I had to shoehorn in Lawrence Butler at 10th). Cowser had a stinker of a 2023 MLB debut season, and Jackson Holliday was expected to be the Orioles’ representative for the Rookie of the Year award. Instead, Cowser put together a very nice season, especially defensively, and he battled Austin Wells and eventual ROY Luis Gil for the freshman trophy. He has enough power and patience to like his future, but with Holliday, Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson in the dugout, Cowser’s still more of a supporting player for their lead roles.
If you love rookie cards, here are some more articles tracking great cards from the past and present:
Let us know what you think about our list of the best 2024 Topps rookie cards from each flagship series. Are there some you love – some you hate? Let us know in the comments below – and let’s get ready for 2025 Topps Series 1!
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