2016 Bowman Chrome gives a fresh look at a September baseball card release

September is one of the most exciting times in the baseball season, as contenders furiously battle for a spot in the playoffs, while second-division teams get a chance to show off their top prospects as rosters expand. Both breathe life into every game of the final season of the month, giving each team the opportunity to write their own final narrative. The release of the 2016 Bowman Chrome baseball card series only adds to the drama of fall baseball, offering collectors the opportunity to chase the prospects that are on the verge of stardom while getting a fresh look at the current stars of the game.

2016 Bowman Chrome / Bowman

Bowman highlights two rising young players on the cover of the 2016 Chrome product, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays and Michael Conforto of the New York Mets. The latter is contributing to the Mets playoff run, while the former had a torrid start to his first minor league season that finished before his 18th birthday. This year’s product came in the form of two mini boxes, each guaranteeing two autographs as part of the 60 cards contained therein.

Unlike its Topps Chrome sister set, Bowman Chrome adds new photos to the players featured in the 2016 Bowman set, while revamping the 100-card condensed base set checklist. A host of new minor leaguers populate the prospects in the set, giving Bowman Chrome a fresh appeal to those who purchased Bowman earlier this year.

2016 Bowman Chrome Kris Bryant Base Card / Bowman

Some fresh eye-catching inserts highlighting the Arizona Fall League All-Stars and an update to the Bowman Scouts Top 100 series allow collectors to find something new to enjoy in this late season release. The box provided for this review yielded one base Chrome Prospect autograph, as well as a green refractor autograph that was limited to a run of 99 cards.

Trayce Thompson Bowman Chrome Green Refractor Autograph / Bowman

While outside of Guerrero Jr. and Gary Sanchez, there aren’t many hot prospects in the set; however, that shouldn’t stop collectors from giving 2016 Bowman Chrome a look. With today’s frontline players captured in new photos on their patented Chrome stock and the chance to catch a sleeper pick in the mix, 2016 Bowman Chrome fits snugly into the theatrics of late season baseball.

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Can Topps Chrome offer more than a shiny finish on proven product?

Consumers have been traditionally willing to trade in tried and true reliability for the newest shiny gadget on the market, whether it is a car, a phone, or a pair of sneakers. Topps hopes that they can capitalize on collectors’ obsessions to scoop up the latest glistening gadget with the release of the 2016 Topps Chrome set.

2016 Topps Chrome / Topps

Adding a premium touch to the 2016 Topps base set design, Chrome takes the this year’s classic release up a notch with an enhanced stock and a condensed 200-card checklist in an attempt to attract customers to the product.

With only four cards per pack, Topps Chrome aims to have the feel of exclusivity; however, that feeling is quickly lost with the myriad of parallels that includes nine different types of base card refractors. Building a set is a challenge, as collectors would have to dig into three boxes of the product to even have a chance at compiling a set. With the price of boxes hovering around $70, going through $200 of product just to have the chance to collate a set seems like a daunting task, leaving collectors to focus on the bigger hits in 2016 Topps Chrome.

Each hobby box boasts two autographs, with the majority consisting of almost 80 different rookie selections, including the likes of Michael Conforto, Aaron Nola, Kenta Maeda, Corey Seager, and Julio Urias. An intriguing pull is the 2015 Carlos Correa Topps Chrome Autograph, which missed the cut from last year’s product. Collectors lucky enough to pull a dual autograph could wind up with one of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, or Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber.

While a varied list of autographs, and a smaller set filled with stars and rookies is certainly appetizing, that alone cannot save 2016 Topps Chrome. One thing the hobby needs less of is duplicity, and with what is essentially a chrome finished base card with no change in design, Topps has unfortunately done little to give collectors a reason to chase this one down.

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Michael Conforto hits his first major league home run against the Marlins

Michael Conforto further solidified his place in the New York Mets lineup last night when he hit his first major league home run in the second inning off of Miami Marlins starter Tom Koehler. The 433-foot blast to right-center field put the Mets ahead 3-0, putting them well on their way to a 12-1 victory.

“I was just trying to find a good pitch to hit something hard,” Conforto said. “I got into a good count 3-1, got a good fastball out over the plate [and] put a good swing on it.”

Michael Conforto at MCU Park in 2014 / N. Diunte

Conforto hit Koehler’s 3-1 offering into the depth of Marlins Park with two runners on base and the pitcher Bartolo Colon waiting on deck. Many in the ballpark were expecting Koehler to pitch around him to get to the weak-hitting Colon after falling behind in the count; however, Conforto showed tremendous poise in being prepared to hit in that situation.

“I wouldn’t say I [was] surprised,” he said. “It was what I was looking for. I wanted to make sure that I got a good pitch to hit … in a spot where I could put us ahead and help the team out.”

With the Mets recent acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes, Conforto was slated to head to their Triple-A team in Las Vegas this weekend; however, when Kirk Nieuwenhuis suffered a neck injury, Mets manager Terry Collins kept him from boarding the plane. The move paid tremendous dividends against the Marlins.

“It was a good night for him to get him going,” Collins said. “He is going to be such a good hitter."

The 23-year-old outfielder has made meteoric rise to the majors since being selected in the first round of the 2014 draft. He spent the 2014 season with the Mets short season club in Brooklyn, and split time between two minor league teams this season, before being called to the majors last month from Double-A Binghamton with only 133 professional games under his belt.

With his major league career only a few weeks old, behind every turn of the corner is a new milestone for the future star of the Mets organization. As he floated around the bases after his first home run, Conforto not only put a foothold on his position with the team, but cemented an unforgettable moment in his promising journey.

“The whole trip around the bases was a flash in my mind,” he said. “So it's a moment I'll never forget. It's pretty cool."

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Michael Conforto's outfield play turning heads in Brooklyn

Being a first-round draft pick carries high expectations from the moment a player signs their name on a million-dollar contract. In just over a month, Michael Conforto, the New York Mets 2014 first-round draft pick from Oregon State University, has been all that was advertised and then some.

Playing in thirty-six games thus far with the Brooklyn Cyclones in the short-season New York Penn League, Conforto has been a magician at the plate, batting .321 with two home runs and 18 RBIs. His prowess with the bat comes as little surprise to baseball insiders, as his hitting was the main factor in his nomination as a finalist for the 2014 Golden Spikes Award, the honor given to the top player in college baseball.

Going into the draft however, there was much speculation about Conforto’s abilities as an outfielder, with some analysts going as far as calling his outfield play, “a mess,” and saying that his arm strength leaves much to be desired.

Michael Conforto - N. Diunte

“He has a poor throwing arm that runners can take extra bases on,” said Christopher Crawford of MLB Draft Insider. 

In the short time that he has been in Brooklyn, he has laid the foundation to quell those naysayers about his defensive capabilities. He has five outfield assists and has made quite a few acrobatic plays in left field as well.

“The reports also said he was only an adequate defender; the same with his arm. But in the reports I've been sending back to the Mets, I'm telling them he's anything but that," Cyclones Manager Tom Gamboa said to the Staten Island Advance. "He threw out a runner trying to score (Monday night at RCCC), and tonight he made a diving catch. That's about the seventh or eighth diving catch he's made."

Conforto is glad that his defense is getting attention, as it was overshadowed by his strong bat throughout his entire college career. He recognizes that it is an area of his game that is continuing to be developed as he starts his journey in professional baseball.

“That's something that's been said that may be my weakness,” Conforto said to metroBASEBALL magazine, “so it's pretty cool that its been highlighted here. I've had the opportunity to be out there in left field every day and showcase my ability, so that's been pretty cool for me and it's helped me grow in a place where I really need to grow.”

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