Baseball season is underway and we’re starting to see the first cards of 2024 come out (Topps Series 1, Topps Big League and Topps Heritage). However for this unboxing, we’re going to rip a new product from Panini featuring some of the best prospects from the 2023 MLB Draft and minor leagues. Panini Elite Extra Edition has always a fun rip for prospect collectors and offers a nice chance to pick up autographs of the 2023 Draft Picks on a budget. Each 5 Pack box contains 5 cards with each box on average producing 8 Autographed cards and 2 Memorabilia cards. The boxes retailed at $100 on the Panini website, but you can now pick them up on eBay in the $80-85 range.
The headliners featured in this year’s product include #1 Overall Pick Paul Skenes, #2 Overall Pick Dylan Crews, #1 Internal Signing Period Prospect Leo de Vries. There’s a strong 2023 Draft feel to the checklist with many 1st Round hitters including Jacob Wilson, Enrique Bradfield Jr, Bryce Eldridge, Matt Shaw, Tommy Troy, Blake Mitchell and Kyle Teel. There are some really interesting arms in this set as well with Chase Dollander and Rhett Lowder. Lastly the checklist is filled out with international prospects include Leo de Vries, Felnin Celestin and Jose Perodomo.
We opened one box and here’s what we got:
PACK 1:
Sal Stewart Impact Impressions Autograph, Ariel Rivera Dominican Prospect League Jersey Card, Sean Sullivan Prime Numbers 121/200, Matt Shaw Higher Learning, Christopher Familia base.
PACK 2:
Andres Chaparro Gold Status Diecut Autograph 1/10, Thomas White Prime Numbers Autograph 41/200, Carlson Reed Blue Aspirations 104/349, Tommy Troy Higher Learning, Oliver Guerrero base.
PACK 3:
Alex Clemmey die-cut Autograph 299/399, Trevor Harrison Primer Numbers Autograph 171/200, Connor O’Halloran Green Status 125/499, Rhett Lowder Primary Colors, Alex Clemmey base.
PACK 4:
Jack Hurley Prime Numbers Autograph 193/200, 150 Panini Points, Kyle Teel Future Star Status, Bryce Eldridge Aspirations 307/349, Carson Rucker base.
PACK 5:
Kiefer Lord Base Autograph, Aidan Miller First Round Material Jersey Card 188/199, Dylan Crews Spell Bound “C”, Ryan Lasko Status 31/499, Arjun Nimmala base.
RECAP
While this is usually much more of a fun rip, this particular box was rough. Missing out on an autograph for 150 Panini Points is a kick in gut and no 1st Round Picks or high profile prospects left a lot to be desired. While I did get a Gold Autograph out of 10 to beat the odds, the player left a lot to be desired. Chaparro who is 24, a former Yankees prospect, is now in Triple-A with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although he has shown some interesting power in the minors (20 HRs in 2022, 25 HRs in 2023) he lacks the pedigree of a top prospect.
Sal Stewart, the Cincinnati Reds #6 Prospect on MLB Pipeline, also is an intriguing prospect to follow, but he’s a long way from making an impact at the big league level. Jack Hurley is another prospect worth a flier, as he had a solid college career at Virginia Tech, but is currently ranked as the #13 prospect in the Diamondbacks system.
There were some interesting prospects to follow, although many of them were pitchers. Probably my favorite prospect autograph in the box was Thomas White, the Competitive Balance 1st Round Pick (#35 overall) of the Marlins. White signed for a $4.1M bonus and was one of the top high school pitchers in the draft. He is currently ranked the #2 Prospect in the system.
I do like Alex Clemmey’s chance to be a successful pitcher, but he probably will have minimal impact on the hobby. Clemmey is currently ranked as the 8th best prospect in the Cleveland Guardians system.
I’ll probably grab another box of this down the line to test my luck and see if this 2023 Elite Extra box was just a dud or the product as a whole is down from previous years. I would rate this box a C- due to the players I pulled, but a B- for value. Getting 7 autographs and two memorabilia cards for under $100 is still a great value in the current card space even if none of the players are a future star.