The Most Graded MLB Rookies And Prospect Baseball Cards In 2024
In the first 10 months of 2024, Elly De La Cruz was the clear leader among MLB rookies in total number of graded trading cards, which is a major indicator of a player’s popularity in the baseball card sales market.
National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes had the second-most cards graded among the year’s top rookies, followed by Jackson Holliday, according to information provided by Gemrate.com and analyzed by Baseball America.
“It’s always fascinating to observe the role hype plays in the card market,” Gemrate founder Ryan Stuczynski told Baseball America. “Elly was the big chase in 2024, and his supply highlights that.”
As of Nov. 4, De La Cruz had 93,194 cards graded this year. In the same time period, American League MVP Aaron Judge has had 75,545 cards graded.
And NL MVP Shohei Ohtani? That might be an unfair comparison. He’s the clear No. 1 in the grading field, with an incredible 231,783 cards graded in the first 10 months of 2024.
“Grading activity for Ohtani is unlike anything we’ve seen in the baseball category,” Stuczynski said. “He now is the No. 2 graded baseball player all-time with 740,000 cards graded, behind only Ken Griffey Jr. If you only looked at 2024 grading activity, he would still rank 15th all-time for baseball.”
Among the top 10 prospects in Baseball America’s Top 100, Jasson Dominguez led the way in numbered of graded cards this year, followed by Dylan Crews and Walker Jenkins.
The statistics are compiled from the four main grading companies in the hobby: PSA, BGS, SGC and CGC.
Here’s a deeper dive into the statistics, including a look at some of the most graded individual cards.
As of Nov. 4, De La Cruz has had nearly 100,000 cards graded this year, led by his 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospects base card, which was graded more than 17,000 times and sells for about $35 as a Gem Mint 10.
Skenes has had 65,928 cards graded thus far in 2024. He had just over 1,000 cards graded in 2023, the year he was taken first overall in the MLB Draft.
NL rookie of the year runner-up Jackson Merrill had 11,601 cards graded, while AL ROY Luis Gil had just 1,891 graded.
Here’s how 10 of this year’s top rookies rank by total cards graded in 2024:
| Player | Cards Graded In 2024 | Cards Graded All-Time |
| Elly De La Cruz | 93,194 | 165,700 |
| Paul Skenes | 65,928 | 67,000 |
| Jackson Holliday | 55,948 | 68,100 |
| Wyatt Langford | 32,772 | 32,800 |
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto | 29,867 | 31,600 |
| Jackson Chourio | 27,288 | 49,000 |
| Jackson Merrill | 11,601 | 15,700 |
| Colton Cowser | 8,965 | 14,700 |
| Shota Imanaga | 8,514 | 8,600 |
| Luis Gil | 1,891 | 3,400 |
When it comes to Baseball America’s Top 10 prospects, the clear leader among was Dominguez, who more than doubled the numbers of second-place Crews. Jenkins ranked third in graded cards, while Roman Anthony, BA’s current No. 1 prospect, came in fourth.
BA’s No. 4 prospect, Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander, has had just 50 cards graded this year.
How BA’s Top 10 stack up, as ranked by cards graded in 2024:
| Player (BA Top 100 ranking) | Cards Graded In 2024 | Cards Graded All-Time |
| Jasson Dominguez (5) | 30,546 | 129,000 |
| Dylan Crews (3) | 13,328 | 13,900 |
| Walker Jenkins (6) | 9,810 | 9,900 |
| Roman Anthony (1) | 4,056 | 6,700 |
| Marcelo Mayer (10) | 3,717 | 18,800 |
| Carson Williams (7) | 1,159 | 3,750 |
| Coby Mayo (8) | 1,122 | 2,600 |
| Jackson Jobe (2) | 903 | 2,400 |
| Noah Schultz (9) | 403 | 800 |
| Chase Dollander (4) | 50 | 72 |
“It’s interesting to see a highly sought after prospect like Mayer, who ranks in the top 10, sort of flying under the radar from a grading standpoint in 2024,” Stuczynski said. “He was arguably the biggest chase in the 2021 draft, so he does have a good number of cards graded all-time, more than Jackson Merrill, for example. However, new graded supply in 2024 was fairly low given his profile.”
Of the top 10 rookies, what are their most graded individual cards of all-time? Here’s the list, which is once again dominated by De La Cruz:
| Player | Card | Cards Graded All-Time | Recent PSA 10 Sales Price |
| Elly De La Cruz | 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospects base BCP50 | 17,650 | $35 |
| Paul Skenes | 2023 Bowman Draft base BD14 | 12,008 | $45 |
| Elly De La Cruz | 2022 Bowman Paper Prospects base BP50 | 10,105 | $35 |
| Elly De La Cruz | 2024 Topps base | 9,717 | $35 |
| Jackson Chourio | 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospects base BCP79 | 9,499 | $35 |
| Jackson Holliday | 2022 Bowman Draft base BD168 | 8,744 | $25 |
| Elly De La Cruz | 2022 Bowman mega Box Chrome base BCP50 | 7,645 | $70 |
| Wyatt Langford | 2023 Bowman Draft base BD106 | 7,079 | $20 |
| Jackson Holliday | 2022 Bowman Draft Chrome BDC168 | 6,824 | $70 |
| Elly De La Cruz | 2024 Bowman base | 6,784 | $25 |
And here’s a look at the single most-graded card of all-time for BA’s Top 10 prospects:
| Prospect | Card | Total Cards Graded | Recent PSA 10 Sales Price |
| Roman Anthony | 2023 Bowman Mega Box Chrome base BCP71 | 1,145 | $45 |
| Jackson Jobe | 2021 Bowman Draft Chrome Sapphire base BDC69 | 147 | $90 |
| Dylan Crews | 2023 Bowman Chrome Prospects base BCP23 | 2,462 | $25 |
| Chase Dollander | 2023 Onyx Vintage Competitors autograph – blue ink CACD | 6 | None |
| Jasson Dominguez | 2020 Bowman Paper Prospects base BP8 | 22,804 | $20 |
| Walker Jenkins | 2023 Bowman Chrome Prospects base BCP43 | 2,103 | $25 |
| Carson Williams | 2021 Bowman Chrome Draft pick autograph base | 566 | $75 |
| Coby Mayo | 2021 Bowman Chroem Prospect autograph base CPACMA | 462 | $175 |
| Noah Schultz | 2022 Bowman Draft Chrome Draft Pick autograph refractor CDANSZ | 92 | $140 |
| Marcelo Mayer | 2021 Bowman Draft chrome refractor BDC174 | 2,333 | $35 |
For more grading statistics, trends and analysis, check out Gemrate.com.
