We rank the best 2025 Bowman Baseball Prospects so card collectors know what to hunt for. We also share team rankings for breaks, and some sleeper picks!
Ranking the Best 2025 Bowman Baseball Prospects
We rank the best 2025 Bowman Baseball prospects because the product just got released a few weeks ago. Now that we have had a chance to look at it, it is time to release our 2025 Bowman 1st card rankings, catered to the Happy Hobbyists out there.
My intention is to break down the rankings into 3 categories: Best Players, Best Values, and Best Teams (for those interested in breaks).
Breaking Down Bowman Baseball Cards
Before we get into the rankings, lets take a minute to review what Bowman Baseball is, how it compares to other Bowman products, and how you can purchase it. Bowman typically releases three products each year: Bowman Draft, Bowman Baseball, and Bowman Chrome.
Bowman Draft is unique in that you will only find prospect cards in the release. These will be broken down into Bowman 1st cards and generic prospect cards. Packs will be made up of both paper cards as well as chrome cards, to include refractors. You can find autographs as well as numbered parallels on both the paper and chrome cards. Unfortunately for collectors on a budget, Bowman Draft only has hobby boxes and Jumbo boxes, each selling for several hundred dollars, so our best bet is to buy singles or join a break. The other main feature of Bowman Draft is that the sought-after 1st cards are mainly made up of the top players drafted in the MLB draft, though a few will be left out to be included in the Bowman Baseball release.
Bowman Chrome is an all-chrome release that included both major league players as well as prospects. You can find autographs, mojo refractors, and numbered parallels. Bowman chrome typically releases hobby boxes as well as mega boxes. The players receiving 1st cards in the chrome release are typically made up of the international prospect signings.
Bowman Baseball is the compromise of both the Draft and Chrome release in my opinion. In the product you will find a combination of major league players as well as prospects. Cards include both paper and chrome with all the potential hits, including autographs, numbered cards, and Bowman 1st refractors. The product releases with plenty of options including hobby boxes, breakers delight boxes, and blasters.
Blasters usually come in around $30 and have decent odds of including a numbered card and possibly and auto. (I recently opened 3 blasters and got two numbered cards and an auto; however, results may vary.) The players receiving 1st cards in this release are the players remaining from the most recent MLB draft as well as other players who never got a Bowman 1st card.
Top 5 Best 2025 Bowman Baseball Prospects
Before listing the players, here is a great website I used for this article, so you can do your own analysis and sort players between hitters and pitchers and see how they rank out. Images come courtesy of BuySportsCards.com.
1. Jesus Made, SS-3B, Milwaukee Brewers (18 years old): Low A / Overall Prospect Rank 17 / Team Rank 1
2. Kevin McGonigle, SS-2B, Detroit Tigers (20): Low A / Overall Prospect Rank 23 / Team Rank 3
3. JJ Wetherholt, SS, St Louis Cardinals (22): Double A / Overall Prospect Rank 25 / Team Rank 1
4. Thomas White, SP, Miami Marlins (20): High A / Overall Prospect Rank 33 / Team Rank 1
5. Franklin Arias, SS-2B, Boston Red Sox (19): High A / Overall Prospect Rank 76 / Team Rank 4
These guys are the unanimous top 5 based on draft rankings, skills, and early results in the minor leagues. If you are lucky enough to pull one of them, these are great cards to keep and watch.
If you are looking to pick up a single of these guys, prices will be inflated right now, so my recommendation would be to wait until the off season or until there are more cards on the market to push prices down a little bit.
Top 5 Best Value Players – 2025 Bowman Baseball 1st Prospects
We think these players have great upside, so you can consider buying them cheap, either numbered versions of these cards, or even autographs.
1. Jonathon Long, 1B, Chicago Cubs (23 years old): Triple A / Team Rank 12
I like Long because over three seasons in the minors he has hit well at each level. He already has 3 HRs in just 34 games while keeping his strikeouts reasonable. His eBay prices are another thing to like. Chrome numbered refractors are available for under $20 and I even found a yellow /75 paper card for under $5 with shipping included!
2. Mitch Jebb, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates (23): Double A / Team Rank 17
Jebb is in his 3rd season in the minors and though the lacks power, he gets on base and has the speed to steal a base or two. Also working in his favor is a path the majors as the Pirates do not have long-term SS on the roster. It is easy to find a great deal on a Jebb paper parallel on eBay, two low numbered (/50 and /75) recently sold for under $10 each.
3. Yu-Min Lin, P, Arizona Diamondbacks (21): Triple A / Team Rank 15
I like Lin as a value pickup because despite being 21, he is already in the 4th season in the minors with Arizona and has been successful. The other great thing is his cards are relatively cheap for us budget collectors. A quick search on eBay resulted in many numbered paper parallels under $15 and some even under $10.
4. Jhostynxon Garcia, OF, Boston Red Sox (22): Double A / Team Rank 8
Garcia is a power hitter who after his breakout 2024 season looks capable of being a 25-30 HR hitter. A quick search on eBay resulted in many numbered paper parallels under $15.
5. Jansel Luis, INF, Arizona Diamondbacks (20): High A / Team Rank 5
Luis is a longer-term project but he seems to have figured out his swing on both sides of the plate and worked on his chase rate. If he can keep it together this season, he would move up the rankings next year as a 21-year-old in Double A. I found plenty of numbered chrome cards in the $15 range and you can have your pick of numbered paper cards under $10.
Top 7 Best Teams For Breaks For Best 2025 Bowman Baseball Prospects
If you’re joining a team break, we like these teams to have the best possibilities for the money you’d have to spend.
1. Texas Rangers: 7 total players, 6 hitters and 1 pitcher
Two of the hitters rank 12 or better for the Rangers. The quantity of players on the checklist for the Rangers makes it hard to miss and increases your odds of getting an auto and/or numbered parallel, plus the lack of a super big name should keep the price reasonable.
2. Cleveland Guardians: 6 total players, 4 hitters and 2 pitchers.
None of the hitters rank in the top 30 of their system, but all the hitters are 22 or younger. Cleveland should net you a decent price while still having a good shot at auto and/or numbered parallel.
3. New York Yankees: 3 total players, all hitters.
The value here is that all the players are ranked in the top 30 for the Yankees, so while the odds decrease for a big hit, the quality of player is increased on any card you do hit.
4. Tampa Bay Rays: 6 total players, 2 hitters and 4 pitchers.
If you like pitchers, this is your team. 3 of the pitchers and 1 hitter rank in the top 30 for the Rays, so good odds to get a quality player and a hit with the Rays.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers: 5 total players, 2 hitters and 3 pitchers.
Three players rank in the top 30, 2 of them being pitchers.
6. Detroit Tigers: 4 total players, all hitters.
Three of the 4 are in the top 15, highlighted by McGonigle (see above). The downside is that with McGonigle here as a top player to chase, you will pay more to get Detroit, however, the quality is excellent here.
7. St Louis Cardinals: 5 total players, 2 hitter and 3 pitchers.
All 3 pitchers are in the top 30 and the hitters include JJ Wetherholt. Like the Tigers, Wetherholt will drive the price up.
Final Thoughts on the Best 2025 Bowman Baseball Prospects
- For budget-minded collectors, blasters and singles are the best value purchases. For singles, look for the numbered paper cards, prices are usually reasonable when compared to chrome.
- Consider a maximum amount you will spend on a young prospect card. For me personally, I set my limit at $10 for a prospect.
- The value of a prospect card will typically peak when they get called up the majors. If you are buying to sell, that is the time to list it.
- The value of a prospect card will typically drop once an official Topps rookie card is released in the flagship series. This means if there is a big prospect you missed out, look for 1st cards when others are hunting rookies.
- The further we get from release date, the better the prices tend to be.
- A top ranked prospect does not guarantee success at any level.
- A low ranked or unranked prospect can become a successful major leaguer.
Don’t forget to check out all the Bowman 1st cards of MLB’s Top 100 Prospects!
If you are looking to acquire some of the best 2025 Bowman Baseball Prospects, whether it’s buying singles, boxes or buying into breaks, I wish you the best of luck and as always, have a #HappyHobby!
Patrick Imhoff
Patrick is a sports enthusiast and sports card collector working on a limited budget. He enjoys collecting baseball and hockey cards, sharing the lessons he learns with others. He currently lives in North Texas, but he grew up in Pittsburgh and he enjoys collecting cards of Pirates and Penguins players. He collects all eras of cards, and his recent focus is on quantity over quality, to grow a very distinct collection. His current collecting goal is to have one great card from every year, starting from the 1950s.
Patrick’s favorite current baseball cards to collect are Bowman 1st refractors and Topps Gold /2024 rookies, as well as Young Guns and Future Watch hockey cards.
He regularly contributes to the “Happy Hobby” Newsletter, as well as in the comments on the YouTube Channels for @DavidGonos and @MJFamilyTimeCards.
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