Juan Soto Is Driving a Free Agency Frenzy - Just Like His Record-Breaking Rookie Card
Juan Soto is a sought-after man. The New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers are among the favorites to land his baseball-playing services for what will surely be a historic contract.
His rookie card from 2018 Topps Update was also one of the most in-demand cards from his days with the Washington Nationals. The card is the 28th-most graded card in Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) history (according to Gem Rate), and the third-most graded baseball card from a 21st century release.
His base rookie card has been graded more than 35,800 times by PSA, with more than 23,600 of the submissions receiving a PSA 10. A base PSA 10 sells for between $45 -$50, according to data from Card Ladder.
There is another version of this card, the gold parallel numbered to 2018, that sells for about $1,000 in PSA 10 and for a little more than $400 in PSA 9.
But one of the scarcest base Soto rookie cards from a major release comes from 2018 Topps Archives. Soto's rookie card from 2018 Archives has been graded 1,967 times - just a tad above 2018 Bowman's Best and 2018 Bowman Prospects Chrome.
But Archives has a much lower rate of PSA 10s. Only 51% of cards submitted from Archives received a Gem Mint grade, putting the overall numbers of this particular rookie card in PSA 10 at 1,010. It is one of the lowest-populated Soto rookie cards in PSA 10 among all major releases.
What's more, Soto's Topps Archives typically sells for under $50 in PSA 10. It's quite the bargain considering his 2018 Topps Update base card sells for about $50 in PSA 10 but has more than 23 times the population!
One other card to look at comes from 2018 Topps Gallery, with 990 PSA 10s in circulation. A sale from early November came in at $20 with shipping, though the cards in PSA 10 typically sell for between $30-$40.
When considering Soto rookie cards, not all of them are created equal. And it's worth taking a look at different options given the disparities between population and market prices.