Whether you collect cards or not, the card hobby continues to gain visibility and has been on a significant upward trajectory. For the baseball card collectors out there, Jasson Dominguez has set their world on fire. A confluence of factors has led to Dominguez, aka The Martian, being not only the hottest prospect card, but arguably the hottest baseball card in recent memory. His hype comes from all angles: the mystery of the unknown with how little people have seen him play, the Bo Jackson physique at 16 years old with the accompanying speed/power/arm tool set, the number one J2 signee from the most recent class, and, the proverbial lighter fluid on the fire, being a Yankee prospect. The Yankees are the ubiquitous brand and most valuable of all baseball teams, and that carries over to the baseball card world.
Dominguez first appeared in non-MLB licensed products, starting with 2019 Panini Prizm Draft Picks in November of 2019. His autographed cards from that product started re-selling at a minimum of $200 for the base cards and higher for the rarer parallels. After that, he showed up in almost every prospect product released to date – 2019 Panini Elite Extra Edition, Leaf Metal Draft, Leaf Ultimate, Leaf Flash, Leaf Valiant, and Onyx Vintage Premium. And not to miss a golden opportunity, Panini has included him in their most recent MLB-focused products in prospect subsets of 2020 Prizm Baseball and 2020 Select Baseball.
“For Bowman, his base autos are starting around $700 and regularly going for between $15K - $20K for the lower numbered parallels.”
The most valuable Dominguez cards are (and will always be) found in the MLB licensed products. Topps is the current license holder and Bowman is their prospect-focused brand. 2020 Bowman Baseball is his first licensed product, and normally this product is a single release. However, this year, maybe due to some of the Dominguez factor, 2020 Bowman Baseball had three distinct releases – 1st Edition, the standard product, and Sapphire Edition. Dominguez is the crown jewel in each of them and his cards in these products are fetching astronomical prices. Also, similar to Panini, Topps will be introducing a prospects subset in the 2020 Update Series, and Jasson will likely be included.
Every product Dominguez is part of has seen significant price jumps for the product itself. The most recent example is 2020 Bowman Sapphire, which was an online exclusive from Topps that was sold for $150 a box and sold out on the first day of sales. Resale of those boxes started around $350 a box and in one week have jumped to $450 a box with no sign of the upward trend slowing down. This trend is largely driven by the presence of Dominguez in this product.
Looking at Dominguez cards specifically, his non-autographed cards can be had for typically about $10 and up depending on the type of card/product and if it is numbered or not. His autographed cards will set you back at least $150 for the base versions in the unlicensed products. For Bowman, his base autos are starting around $700 and regularly going for between $15,000 - $20,000 for the lower numbered parallels.
Bowman Sapphire is still new to the market having arrived within the last week - this will likely be the most desirable Dominguez prospect product outside of the upcoming very rare and very expensive Bowman Transcendent, which comes out in August. Base Sapphire cards are going for over $300 and base autographs are going for over $2,000 (no non-base card autographed card have been sold yet).
At some point we will get tangible evidence of whether Jasson Dominguez is the next big thing and can the reach the heights of the top prospect in baseball or not. While we wait for that, Dominguez will continue to be the primary driving factor in the prospect card marketplace.
Currently Wander Franco is considered the consensus number one prospect in baseball, but The Martian is the overwhelming number one prospect in baseball cards.