2025 Bowman Chrome Checklist: MLB Prospect Cards, Chases We’re Hunting
The official release for Bowman Chrome 2025 is here. To help get you ready for one of the biggest baseball card days of the year, Baseball America is providing collectors a deeper look into what to expect from this year’s set.
Historically, Bowman Chrome is dense on young, international talent, along with truly unique inserts and autograph chases. There’s a lot to digest, so sit back and settle in as we help you to sort through this year’s list and figure out exactly who to target, whether it’s individual players or teams for breaks.
The Most Famous Names In Bowman Chrome 2025
The 2025 Bowman release featured seven of Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects. Here’s this year’s list Bowman Chrome players who either are in the Top 100 now or were previously and still have a big target on their back:
- Luke Keaschall RC (Twins, BA No. 28)
- Nate George (Orioles, BA No. 81)
- Josuar Gonzalez (Giants, BA No. 85)
- Bo Davidson (San Francisco, BA No. 88)
- Cam Schlittler (Yankees, BA No. 93)
- Jacob Wilson RC (Athletics)
- Nick Kurtz RC (Athletics)
- James Wood RC (Nationals)
- Roki Sasaki RC (Dodgers)
- Cam Smith RC (Astros)
It’s worth keeping in mind that Bowman Chrome is always loaded with the youngest international prospects who haven’t had the lengthiest runway with which to build their prospect case. As such, this is always a good checklist to revisit in a few years for a gem or two.
A New Checklist For Bowman Red Rookie Redemption Program
Fanatics debuted the Bowman Red Rookie Redemption Program with 2025 Bowman and have extended the runway with another offering of the special “red colored” rookie card logo in Bowman Chrome.
While we went in depth on the program in our preview for 2025 Bowman, the skinny is that there’s a tiered redemption system for Fanatics Fancash if you hold a red rookie card for the eventual rookie of the year. You can redeem it immediately for $20 Fancash or hold for future escalators that are triggered if the player goes on to other future accolades such as MVP, Cy Young or even induction into the Hall of Fame. Fanatics Fancash can be used to purchase more unopened boxes of cards, singles, auctions, live breaks and fan gear.
A lot has changed since the release of Bowman 2025, and the Chrome checklist has added a few names to chase that weren’t included in the prior release.
As of mid August, the favorites for AL Rookie of the Year are Nick Kurtz (Athletics), Roman Anthony (Red Sox), Cam Smith (Astros) and Jasson Dominguez (Yankees). The NL Rookie of the Year race is a bit tighter and, in Vegas, is led by Isaac Collins of the Brewers, followed by Drake Baldwin (Braves), Cade Horton (Cubs), Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers) and Agustin Ramirez (Marlins).
Kurtz and Smith are both on the red rookie checklist for 2025 Bowman Chrome. With Kurtz well out in front of the pack for ROY, his card is the one to chase in the American League.
On the NL side, Collins is not in the set. However, he is only a marginal ROY favorite over checklist inclusions like Baldwin and Horton. Misiorowski is not in the set, but Ramirez is.
As it is, there’s a solid chance both of the eventual ROY winners are in the red rookie set for 2025 Bowman Chrome. Happy hunting!
Inserts To Target: Garbage Pail Kids, International Refractors, Spotlights & Retrofractors
Garbage Pail Kids returns with a much larger checklist from 2024—up from 23 to 50. We’ll see how this unique set does in year two, but so far, it sits a notch below the Anime insert set in terms of collectability. It may take a year or two for what is a newer insert set for Bowman Chrome to gain in popularity. For those who are ahead of the masses on the GPK set, look for superstars like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, retired legends like Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. and rookie chases like James Wood and Nick Kurtz.
A variation to be on the lookout for this year is the International Refractor set, a 50-card checklist featuring backgrounds depicting players’ native country. There are also autographed versions. Images of the Shotaro Morii (Athletics) card have surfaced featuring an autograph in Kanji and Tokyo’s skyline with Mt. Fuji in the background. It’s a really slick look, and I’ll be interested to see the rest of the set as they begin to surface.
Spotlights are always a fun inclusion in Bowman Chrome, and the clean, minimalist design returns for the 2025 set with a 15-card checklist. A few names to whet your appetite: Kristian Campbell (Red Sox) and Cam Smith (Astros), Josuar Gonzalez (Giants) and Elian Peña (Mets). In past years, Spotlights have been a case hit. That’s probably safe to assume again given the shorter checklist, though we do not have an odds list yet.
The solo Retrofractor for 2025 Bowman Chrome is Reds Hall of Famer, Tony Perez. Perez also has an autographed set for his Retrofractor. I’ll admit, this was an underwhelming detail on the checklist given that last year’s product featured Retrofractors for Lou Gehrig and Sandy Koufax.
Additionally, be on the lookout for Bowman Ascensions (25 cards), It Came To The League (20 cards), Meteoric Rise (15 cards), Melt Mashers (25 cards), Max Volume (15 cards) and Adios (25 cards). We’ll know more on rarity when the odds list gets released in the coming weeks.
Who We’re Hunting
The San Francisco Giants! After a slight inclusion in 2025 Bowman, the Giants have come roaring back with two Top 100 Prospects with Bowman Firsts on the Chrome checklist.
Josuar Gonzalez is a name that has gotten a lot of love in recent months from our writers. Coming in at No. 85 on the Top 100, the 17-year-old shortstop displayed one of the better hit tools in the Dominican Summer League. Bo Davidson is the second name to know. An undrafted free agent out of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, NC, Davidson participated in the Arizona Fall League last October and more than held his own. He has followed that with an impressive 72-game run in High-A before a promotion to Double-A. He recently cracked the Top 100 just a couple spots below Gonzalez.
A pair of 2024 MLB draftees will also get their Firsts in 2025 Chrome: Luke Dickerson (Nationals) and Kale Fountain (Padres). Dickerson is a toolsy prep from Rockaway, NJ who was taken in round two last year. He has split his year between the FCL and Low-A Fredericksburg. He has had mixed results, but the tools are there, and he’s just 19.
Fountain is a mountain of a prospect. A fifth-rounder from Norris High School in Nebraska, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound corner infielder passed up on LSU to sign with the Padres for $1.7 million. After a solid ACL debut, he has spent the past few weeks adjusting to life with Low-A Lake Elsinore. He can run and he can thump—it’s an upside play here.
Breaker Value & Teams To Target
As I continue to refine my analysis with the goal of helping collectors find the best value in their pursuits, I’m taking another stab at value tiers for 2025 Bowman Chrome. I’m looking at volume (inserts, autographs, etc.) and quality of position players in the marquee sets. Bowman First autos, Spotlights, Garbage Pail Kids (GPK), Retrofractors, Etched in Glass, and Rookie autographs are my main considerations for this set. I have teams broken into tiers with value score in brackets below.
- Tier 1: Dodgers [304], Athletics [299], Red Sox [290]
The Dodgers find themselves at the top of the list for Bowman Chrome after also topping the 2025 Bowman breaker value list. There’s a Shohei Ohtani auto in this product, and the checklists are littered with Roki Sasaki and Hyeseong Kim. The Dodgers are very light on prospects in this set.
It’s nice to see the A’s get some recognition as a system that has consistently produced big leaguers. A pair of stud rookies in Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz lead the chase here with autos, variations and, in Kurtz’s case, the red-rookie to have on decision day. I mentioned the Shotaro Morii International Refractor auto card above, and it’s sure to be a chase for both American and Japanese collectors—there’s just something about that Kanji. Former LSU favorite Tommy White gets his Bowman First in this set, as well.
The Red Sox find themselves in tier 1 on the back of the big three. Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer are all over the 2025 Bowman Chrome checklists.
- Tier 2: Cubs [267], Giants [267], Pirates [260]
Matt Shaw has come on strong in the second half of the season to give the Cubs a push up into tier two. If Shaw isn’t your cup of tea, however, you can ignore his inclusion here. Shaw and Moises Ballesteros have rookie autos in this set. Cade Horton has a red rookie card and an outside shot at NL ROY and while Shota Imanaga, Sammy Sosa and Shaw all feature in the GPK set. There’s a good mix of rookies, established stars and prospects in what is a deep Cubs checklist.
I mentioned the Giants before, so I’ll be brief to say that Josuar Gonzalez firsts and every variation and auto are what’s in the crosshairs here. Bo Davidson is also a fun name, as I mentioned above. There’s also some prospect depth on the auto checklist here to balance out the top end with some volume.
The Pirates land in this tier with a ton of Konnor Griffin and Paul Skenes insert volume. There are autographs for both, as well.
- Tier 3: Mets [244], Astros [231], Cardinals [231]
If you roll with the Mets for 2025 Chrome, you’re hunting Elian Peña and all of his variations and inserts. There’s a Juan Soto autograph on the checklist, and you’ll find Soto and Francisco Lindor on the GPK checklist. Outside of Peña, the Mets are light on prospect depth for this product.
For Astros collectors, this is the Cam Smith and Kevin Alvarez show. While Smith is unlikely to win rookie of the year given Nick Kurtz’s outlier production, he’s had a great first pass at big league pitching and should be a cornerstone in the Houston lineup for years to come. I’d be shocked if he didn’t post multiple all-star selections over the next decade. Alvarez, meanwhile, is the prospect with juice in this system, and he features across many of the variations and autograph checklists.
The Cardinals are one of the more diverse inclusions in the top tiers. They have JJ Wetherholt and Albert Pujols in the GPK set, a pair of exciting prospects in the lower minors who feature across the autograph and variation checklists in Rainiel Rodriguez and Yairo Padilla and some depth to their autograph checklist with Wetherholt finding his way into the Prime Choice. Thomas Saggese gets a rookie autograph while sneaky, late-blooming prospect Nathan Church gets his first Bowman autograph.
- Avoid: Rangers [46], Blue Jays [41]
For the Rangers, the top card to chase here is a Corey Seager GPK insert. While he has been as elite as anyone in MLB, Seager’s injury history combined with the lukewarm reception of the GPK insert means it doesn’t carry enough weight to justify a real push off the bottom tier.
The Blue Jays have some lower-tier rookie and prospect autos, while Vlad Guerrero Jr. tops the list with his inclusion in the GPK insert set. Toronto as a whole, however, lacks volume, value and chase in this year’s Chrome product.
Formats, Pricing & Where To Buy
Bowman Chrome is typically more limited in the buying formats than its yearly predecessor, Bowman. Last year, the 60-card hobby box was released alongside a high-end, HTA Choice Box featuring three autographs. A more widely-circulated Mega Box was made available at big box retailers.
Each hobby box is set to feature 60 cards (six packs of 10 cards each) and will have, on average, two autographs. Right now, presales for 2025 Bowman Chrome hobby boxes are circulating on secondary markets in the ballpark of $350-$400.
