Julio Rodriguez Bowman Chrome Auto Sells For $276,000

One of Julio Rodriguez’s rarest baseball cards sold for $276,000 via Goldin Auctions on Saturday, setting a record for the most expensive J-Rod card sold to date.

The 2019 Bowman Chrome Autograph Refractor is numbered to just five. The card was graded by Beckett as a GEM-MINT 9.5.

The more than quarter-million dollar price tag topped last year’s Wander Franco sale, who had his PSA 10 version of the same card sell for $198,030 prior to his debut in 2021. The only prospect or first-year player card to fetch more than Rodriguez at auction is the PSA 10 1-of-1 Superfractor 19-year-old Yankees prospect Jasson Dominguez, which sold for $474,000 through Goldin Auctions in February.

This kind of money for a young player’s baseball card is a newer phenomenon in the hobby. The speculative market in regards to prospects and young MLB players has continued to grow since Mike Trout’s first Bowman Chrome Auto 1-of-1 Superfractor sold for just under $4 million in 2020.

As collectors search for the next youngster who can reach “best player in baseball status” Rodriguez is arguably the best place to look. The 21-year-old Mariners centerfielder is looking like the runaway for American League Rookie of the Year and has been one of baseball’s best outfielders over the last few months.

An impressive display on the big stage during MLB’s Home Run Derby only helped ignite even more hype around Rodriguez and if the Mariners can snap their two-decade playoff drought with the presumptive Rookie of the Year leading the way, it could be safe to say that we haven’t seen the top of his card market.

Now, for the 99.99% of folks who want to scoop up a Julio Rodriguez card, but don’t have six figures to spend, his first Bowman Chrome base cards with no autograph will sell for around $50 ungraded and $200 as a PSA 10. For an ungraded Bowman Chrome Autograph, you’ll need to shell out close to $1,000.