2020 Bowman Draft Baseball Preview, Checklist

Only avid fans of MLB prospects will recognize many of the names, but a few years from now, everyone will likely want at least a few of the cards from an annual release known for the game’s better prospects and the current year’s top draft picks.  2020 Bowman Draft Baseball has a release date of December 9.  A checklist is available below.

2020 Bowman Draft Configuration and Base Set

Draft will again be available in two formats:

• Hobby boxes with 12 packs of 32 cards including 23 base, seven Chrome base, two Chrome base refractor parallels and three autographs.  A case will have eight boxes.
• Super Jumbo boxes with 5 packs per box, each holding 120 cards including 78 base, 33 Chrome base, eight Chrome base refractor parallels and five autographs.  Cases will have six boxes.

Base Set

The 2020 Bowman Draft base set includes 200 cards featuring top prospects and the top picks in the recent MLB Draft.  This year, parallels will include:

Base Cards:

Sky Blue  – #’d to 499
Purple Border  – #’d to 250
Blue Border – #’d to 150
Green Border  – #’d to 99
Gold Border – #’d to 50
Orange Border  – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive 
Red Border  – #’d to 5
Black Border  – #’d 1-of-1
Printing Plates – #’d 1-of-1

Chrome Base Cards:

Refractor – 2 Per Pack
Sky Blue Border – 1:12 – Hobby Exclusive
Purple Refractor  – #’d to 250
Sparkle Refractor 
Blue Refractor  – #’d to 150
Green Refractor  – #’d to 99
Gold Refractor  – #’d to 50
Orange Refractor – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive
Red Refractor  – #’d to 5
SuperFractor  – #’d 1-of-1
Printing Plates – #’d 1-of-1

Inserts

Look for some image variation insert cards in 2020 Bowman Draft.  

There will be a few new insert sets this year including Glimpses of Greatness, which are found one in every three packs and, according to Topps, focus on “the current achievements of top prospects who are showing superstar potential in facets of their game.”  There will be a few parallels for Glimpses of Greatness including:

Refractor – #’d to 250
Green Refractor  – #’d to 99
Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor – #’d 1-of-1

20 in ‘20 offers a breakdown of the top 20 prospects coming out of the draft.  They’ll be found one in every six packs. Parallels will include:

Refractor – #’d to 250
Green Refractor  – #’d to 99
Gold Refractor  – #’d to 50
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor  – #’d 1-of-1

Applied Pressure will be somewhat rare at 1 in 12 packs.  They’ll have a diamond stone design and highlight later-round players who have “worked their way into the Top 100,” according to Topps.  Look for four parallels to this set including:

Atomic Refractor  – #’d to 150
Orange Refractor – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor  – #’d 1-of-1

Franchise Futures are back and also found one in every three packs with these parallels:

Refractor  – #’d to 250
Green Refractor  – #’d to 99
Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor  – #’d 1-of-1

Autographs

This is where tomorrow’s big money cards will come from.  There will be plenty of colored parallels once again, including:

Refractor – #’d to 499
Purple Refractor  – #’d to 250
Blue Refractor – #’d to 150
Blue Wave Refractor #’d to 150
Green Refractor – #’d to 99
Black Refractor  – #’d to 75 – Hobby Exclusive
Sparkle Refractor – #’d to 71
Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Gold Wave Refractor  – #’d to 50
Orange Refractor – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive
Red Refractor  – #’d to 5
Red Wave Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor – #’d 1-of-1
Black Wave Refractor – #’d 1-of-1
Printing Plates – #’d 1-fo-1

Draft Night Autographs will be numbered to 99 except for:

Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Orange Refractor – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor – #’d 1-of-1

Also on the checklist are Image Variation Autographs  (#’d to 99) and Under Armour Game Autographed Cards – (#’d to 199).

Franchise Futures Dual Autographs will be numbered to 99 except for:

Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Orange Refractor – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive 
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor – #’d 1-of-1

20 in ‘20 Autograph Variations – #’d to 99 NEW except for:

Red Refractor Parallel – #’d to 5
SuperFractor – #’d 1-of-1

Class of 2020 Autographs will be numbered to 250 except for these parallels:

Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Red Refractor – #’d to 5
SuperFractor – #’d 1-of-1

Applied Pressure Autographs will be numbered to 99 except for these three parallels:

Orange Refractor – #’d to 25 – Hobby Exclusive
Red Refractor  – #’d to 5
SuperFractor  – #’d 1-of-1

Box Toppers

Some of the top picks in the 2020 draft class will be featured on “Top of the Class” oversize box toppers that came with each hobby box.  Each unsigned box topper will be numbered to 99 with three parallel versions also possible:

Gold Refractor – #’d to 50
Red Refractor  – #’d to 5
SuperFractor  – #’d 1-of-1

Autograph versions numbered to 35 will also be possible.

You can check out current box prices for both Hobby and Jumbo boxes here.

2020 Bowman Draft checklist

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 35 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]