His stay at big league spring training 2018 was brief but it was enough to whet the appetite of Chicago White Sox fans and keep collectors busy searching for Eloy Jimenez baseball cards. The team’s top prospect cold be one of baseball’s top impact players in the next decade.
Born in the Dominican Republic he was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 2013 when he was considered to be that year’s best international prospect. In 2017 he was traded by the Cubs to the White Sox and finished that year’s minor league season with the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate, the Birmingham Barons. Following the 2017 season he was added to the White Sox’ 40-man roster. Despite appearing in only nine spring games during his first Sox spring camp, he was impressive.
Here is a look at Eloy Jimenez’ earliest baseball cards.
2013-’14 Early Releases
After being signed by the Chicago Cubs in 2013 Jimenez was hastily added to some of that year’s releases. Among the sets he was included in were 2013 Leaf Memories, 2013 Leaf Metal Draft, 2013 Leaf Trinity, and 2013 Rize Draft. None of these sets were licensed by Major League Baseball, but they did allow collectors to receive their earliest cards of the much heralded Dominican outfielder. These sets included Jimenez autographs with roughly half being on card and the rest being stickers. In 2014 Jimenez had his first licensed cards produced in 2014 Bowman Draft and 2014 Bowman Chrome Draft, but these sets did not include autographed cards.
2015-’17 Prospects
Jimenez was included in 2015 Bowman Chrome, but once again no autograph cards were included. 2016 saw multiple releases from Topps that included Jimenez including 2016 Bowman Chrome, 2016 Bowman Chrome Draft, 2016 Bowman Draft, and 2016 Topps Pro Debut, but once again he did not sign for Topps. However, Jimenez did sign for Panini in 2016 and his autographs (stickers) were included in 2016 Elite Extra Edition.
In 2017 the signing drought ended and Jimenez signed for Topps and was featured in 2017 Bowman Chrome, 2017 Bowman High Tek, 2017 Bowman Platinum, and 2017 Topps Heritage Minors. Panini also included him in 2017 Panini National Treasures. Roughly half of the autographs issued in 2017 were on card with the rest on stickers. Jimenez’ first licensed autograph from 2017 Bowman Chrome is one of his most coveted cards with collectors.
A live list of the most watched Eloy Jimenez baseball cards on eBay is below.
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