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Corey Seager has had an almost perfect start to his MLB career.
Since he first got called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers in September 2015, Seager played so well that he permanently secured his spot on the roster, and quickly became their most important offensive player.
In 2016, Seager continued his strong play to become an All-Star, capture the NL Rookie of the Year, and finish third in NL MVP voting. At the young of age of 22, Seager absolutely has a bright future ahead of him. The problem is, with collectors aggressively jumping in on Seager, is there any room left for growth in the valuation of his cards?
We collected the sales data for Corey Seager’s 2012 Bowman Chrome prospect base auto (graded 9.5) over the past couple months to see if Seager’s card value has reached its peak and plotted the values below.
The good news is that the card’s average value has steadily increased with each passing month, which has helped it cross the $400 mark. However, the rate of growth appears to have slowed, and the number of sales per month has decreased month over month. It appears that we are seeing the signs of a market that is approaching its peak.
Validation of this hypothesis can be found when we compare the number of sales of Seager’s card next to Kris Bryant’s, whose card valuation is very similar (just above the $400 mark). Kris Bryant’s 2014 Bowman Chrome 1st prospect auto (graded 9.5) was sold 16 times in the month of January while Seager’s 2012 prospect auto was sold just twice.
This should not be that surprising considering that Bryant won the MVP, and the Cubs won the World Series. The $400 price point seems far more reasonable of an investment for a player with the stronger personal and team accolades.
At least until the season begins, it is hard to imagine Seager’s value increasing much more. But all bets are off if Seager starts mashing more baseballs this season.
If Seager can continue to build off his success, it’s not unimaginable that he could find himself in the MVP race again this season. But until then, the market seems to be telling us that for now it’s time to wait and see before making any moves.
DK
I’m not sure that baseball is entirely in the minds of the full hobby world yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an even higher watermark once spring training is underway. I do, however, concede values are far more likely to fall than continue to increase if he or the Dodgers struggle to start the season. Hopefully anyone holding his items considering parting with them bought smart and can use this “sell high” opportunity to see a nice return.
True. Or perhaps just hold onto his card beyond this season. He has the potential of being a true franchise player.