2012 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects Baseball Cards

This Release has a great crisp clean design.The autographs are sharp and clean. The only negative is there are a few chrome cards with occasional scratches right out of the pack.Which can be very sad if on a nice autographed refractor.Otherwise the memorbilia cards are very sharp with a nice size swatch.For ant prospector or rookie card collector this product will be a hit no matter what.This is a set I collect every year no matter what!

Good: Best product on market for prospect and rookie collectors. Every card is either a rookie or prospect card, including players from the 2012 MLB Draft. Decent price. Nice Photoshop of drafted players onto their respective MLB team uniforms. Parallels are plentiful.

Bad: Not ideal product for collectors who don’t like little-known rookies and prospects. Most cards on the checklist will be of players many have never heard of before. Only one hit per box.

The Bottom Line: 2012 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects is a great release for prospect collectors, but it doesn’t give you the excitement of pulling current superstars. If you’re someone who’s willing to take the wait-and-see approach, then this is a solid product. That prospect autograph you pulled of some guy you’ve never heard of could end up being a top prospect within a couple of years. But for collectors who are looking for big hits and immediate returns, this product is severely lacking. With the reasonable box price, it might be worth taking a shot.

Staff Rating: 3.5/5.0

Card Design: 3.5/5.0:
The design falls in line with previous Bowman and Bowman Draft releases of the past. It’s nice to be able to pull two separate ‘sets’ in every pack, since you get both Bowman and Bowman Chrome cards. On the Chrome side, the colored parallels are very nice. For player collectors, this set has a very nice rainbow to chase after. The Ice parallels, which fall one per box, are also sharp.

One downside to the release is that the design is exactly the same as regular Bowman that was released back in May. It would’ve been nice if they changed it up at least a little.

The autographs are on-card, which is always a nice thing, however it could use more space for the signature.

Checklist: 3.5/5.0:
The checklist is decent. Some of the year’s bigger prospects (Bundy, Hultzen, Cole, Lindor) are not in this release since they were already in previous sets. That hurts the checklist a little. The standard rookie card checklist is solid with guys like Bryce Harper, Yoenis Cespedes, Yu Darvish, Matt Moore and Trevor Bauer.

Overall, the checklist has a solid amount of young players with lots of potential. Even without some of the previously bigger named recent picks, it still packs a good punch.

Value: 3.5/5.0:
Because of its lack of current MLB stars, the value is tough to see in 2012 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects. Most of the stuff you pull is going to command patience. That can be a good thing or a bad thing. Also, with only one hit per box, you better hope you pull a bigger named prospect or else you could be out quite a bit of money. Most collectors, myself included, prefer the instant satisfaction of knowing what kind of value you hit in your box as soon as you open.

The Fun Factor: 3.5/5.0:
2012 Bowman Drafts has very distinct positives and negatives. On the positive side, you’re pulling nothing but rookies and prospects. Who doesn’t love that? On the negative side, you can’t find current superstars like Albert Pujols or Miguel Cabrera. When you’re opening a product that doesn’t have current stars, the fun factor takes a hit. This is the perfect example of a product that Topps suits to a very specific market. And to that end, it’s a great release.

Not worth the price. Next year’s should be better. More autographs needed.

Don’t know how this can be better when the top 2 picks in the draft are in this once. And there’s no excuse anymore with MLB getting these players signed and on the field 4-5 months ago. @topps said”look for them to be in Bowman ’13” Wait isn’t this set made for them? I am an Astros fan and was dying to buy this when it came out for a shot at Correa..With these odds..no thanks..Guess ill be waiting for Spring where they can charge more for a better shot at the top 2

One more thing. I can’t figure out for the life of me why anyone would buy a Jumbo box. It costs way too much.

I’m always pleased with the content of this product. It seems to be consistently on par with, if not better than the Bowman set that came out earlier in the year. This year, though, from looking at the autograph checklist, it looks like Topps decided to hold back a bunch of key prospect autographs for 2013 Bowman. I will buy at least 1 box of the 2012 Draft, but from what I’ve seen, 2013 Bowman will have a deeper checklist.

I get a hobby box every year….and I can’t say that for any other product. Always enjoy the product.

Anyone have the checklist yet.

Can’t wait for this products. Will be even better this year with better rookie selection and of course of the draft picks. I bought my first case ever because of this product.

in my book bdp is #1 every year hands down !!!!!!!!

always my favorite product…love that Topps includes “future games” relics! Always my favorite product of the year. I can’t wait for the full checklist to come out

This is the best product year after year!!!!