The firsts keep coming
2015 Bowman brought consistency to the convoluted Topps parallel system. After several months of smooth sailing, 2015 Bowman Chrome kept the same formula (a first, at least among recent years) and brought us the first Kevin Plawecki base Rookie Cards and the first MLB-licensed autographs from Akeel Morris, Jhoan Urena, Milton Ramos, and Michael Conforto? Um, what’s his 2014 Bowman Draft autograph doing here?
Base Card Design
Not much has changed here from 2015 Bowman. Paper versions are gone and the base design gets the chrome treatment. The chrome versions look better anyway.
Mets Selection
Eight Mets in the 200-card base set isn’t bad at all. The actual player selection though is a bit odd; for the first time I can remember, there are no Mets in common between the Bowman and Bowman Chrome base sets. Rookie Cards of Plawecki and Syndergaard make sense, but it’s strange to see Dilson Herrera not make the cut after being in everything this year. Some of the other omissions are a bit more glaring though. David Wright might have missed most of the season, but how do you not include him here? Travis d’Arnaud also missed time but is showing significant promise when he is on the field; he also sits this one out. Jacob deGrom followed up his Rookie of the Year 2014 with a great 2015 season, but he doesn’t merit inclusion. And while those three (as well as Herrera) were all in 2015 Topps Chrome, poor Wilmer Flores was left out there and gets no respect here either. At least six of the eight base cards feature pinstripe uniforms.
The inclusion rate held steady with four Mets in the 100-card prospect set, which returned to the continued numbering following 2015 Bowman’s prospect set after 2014 Bowman Chrome started back at 1. The names here are solid, though not really anything new: Brandon Nimmo (2011 Bowman Draft, 2014 Bowman Draft), Michael Conforto (2014 Bowman Draft), Dominic Smith (2013 Bowman Draft, 2014 Bowman Draft), and Amed Rosario (2015 Bowman autographs). Of these, only Conforto has autographs, sort of.
Parallels
No change from 2015 Bowman. The paper parallels are gone, of course, but the refractors haven’t changed. No pink, yellow, Xfractor, bubbles, shimmer, carbon fiber, or anything else. Just the standard colors. The only downside is the lack of low-numbered parallels after gold (#d/50), with orange (#d/25), a hobby (non-jumbo) exclusive, and red (#d/5) the only more limited parallels with more than one copy. As with 2015 Bowman, packs of light blue refractor versions of the prospect cards (#d/10) were given out on social media.
Inserts
Like last year, Bowman Chrome has three insert sets, all heavy on die-cuts. The Bowman Scouts Updates (Amed Rosario, Brandon Nimmo, and Dominic Smith) cards are the only ones with full-size versions, but everything else is a die-cut or mini. All have parallels starting at a version numbered to 99, but that’s where the similarities end. The Series Next (Jacob deGrom and Kevin Plawecki) inserts use non-standard patterns instead of the standard refractor color options, a strange choice considering the emphasis on conformity (wave refractors aside). And the minis finally get away from the usual format and switch to a mini tall boy size instead. I think we’re all tired of the old minis now anyway.
Autographs
2015 could be the best year for Mets prospect autographs in Bowman history. Which isn’t really saying much when you consider that the Mets Bowman Chrome prospect autograph power rankings start at David Wright and then drop to Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, and, um… Wilmer Flores? Amed Rosario and Marcos Molina in 2015 Bowman was a good start, followed by Akeel Morris, Jhoan Urena, and Milton Ramos here in 2015 Bowman Chrome, filling key gaps in Bowman’s coverage of the top Mets prospects. And then there’s Michael Conforto…
Let’s face it, Conforto’s cards in 2014 Bowman Draft were red hot, even without autographs. An autographed version would have been huge. Bowman did, apparently, print up autograph cards but couldn’t get them signed in time, so instead we get them in 2015 Bowman Chrome. That seems a bit odd, but not unprecedented for Bowman. The Conforto auto, even a year late, is easily the biggest Mets prospect autograph at launch in the 25-year history of autographed baseball cards. Previously, you could expect a prospect autograph to top out around $20 at launch, but the 2014 Bowman Draft Conforto started at over $100 and has settled at just under $60. This card is a big deal.
Oh yeah, Noah Syndergaard has some autographs here too, his second RC autographs after 2015 Topps Chrome. While the Topps Chrome version skipped the base and refractor versions, his Bowman Chrome autographs have a base version but no refractors or purple refractors. Even the base chrome versions appear to be printed in limited numbers. Not a very good value in case breaks…
Insert Autographs
On the opposite end of the value spectrum is Dominic Smith, with two insert autographs in 2015 Bowman Chrome. Just be sure to read the fine print, as some Dominic Smith caase break slots did not include the inserts. Smith is the only Met with an autographed version of a Bowman Scouts Update insert and is also featured in the Prime Positions autograph set. Unlike all of the other insert autographs we’ve seen in Bowman/Bowman Chrome so far, the Prime Positions autographs are on card. They also have several parallels starting at the green (#d/99) level. Also starting numbered to 99 are the Series Next autographs, which feature Jacob deGrom and Kevin Plawecki. Just like in 2015 Bowman, the Mets have four additional autographs here, all reasonably relevant and easily attainable.
The Verdict
You have to love the timing of this release. Dominic Smith’s first autographs of the year as he’s wrapping up a breakout season in the minors. Michael Conforto’s (retroactively) first licensed autographs just after he broke into the majors. Autographs from Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard as they prepare for the first postseason games at Citi Field. And that’s before you even get to the base prospect autographs. It’s a shame that they couldn’t get Steven Matz in there too… Still, this is one of the most significant releases of the year, a fitting follow-up to 2015 Bowman. Now all that’s left is for Bowman Draft to get back on track (spoiler: it will, but somewhat less spectacularly) and we can call 2015 a rare across-the-board success for the Mets in base Bowman products. After a World Series appearance for the Mets in 2015 (and a lot of turnover on the top prospects list), the pressure will be on to keep this going in 2016.
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