Elly De La Cruz Rookie Card Guide: Which Cards Matter and What They Sell For

Elly De La Cruz has three different "rookie" tiers in the hobby, and they do not trade anywhere near each other. His 1st Bowman cards from 2022 are the ones that carry the money. His 2024 Topps and Topps Chrome cards are the ones that actually wear the RC logo. And in between there is a pile of 2023 cardboard that gets listed as "rookie" and mostly isn't. This guide sorts out which Elly De La Cruz cards matter, what they are selling for as of October 18, 2026, and what to skip. Prices below are from eBay sold listings as tracked by SportsCardsPro, checked October 18, 2026, and are ranges, not quotes.

Why his "rookie card" is complicated

De La Cruz debuted for the Reds on June 6, 2023, which landed just after the cutoff for the 2023 RC designation. Beckett covered this at the time: players who debut after the cutoff do not get the RC badge until the following year's flagship, so his 2023 Topps Now cards carry a "Call-Up" note instead and his first official RC-logo cards arrived in 2024 Topps Series 1. That is why you will see 2022, 2023 and 2024 cards all described as his rookie. Here is how collectors actually rank them.

Tier 1: the 2022 1st Bowman cards

For a prospect who came up through Bowman, the 1st Bowman is the card the market treats as the true rookie, and that is the case here.

• 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP-50 (1st Bowman Chrome). The headline base card. Raw copies sold between about $2 and $4 in mid-October 2026. PSA 9s sold for $11 to $23. The PSA 10 market price is right around $50, with SGC and other 9.5s trading well under that.
• 2022 Bowman Prospects #BP-50 (1st Bowman paper). The paper version from the same release. Raw under $5. PSA 9 around $16 to $20. PSA 10s have sold anywhere from $32 to $61 in October 2026, so the spread is wide; do not pay the top of the range for a card that sold at the bottom a few days earlier.
• 2022 Bowman Sapphire Edition #BCP-50. The Topps-direct Sapphire version of the same card. Raw $48 to $57, PSA 9 roughly $36 to $90, PSA 10 $110 to $295 in October 2026, with the market price settling around $170. Sapphire pops are much lower than base Chrome, which is where the premium comes from.
• 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #CPA-ED (1st Bowman auto). This is the card serious Elly collectors chase. The base auto sold raw for $510 to $625 in August and September 2026. PSA 9s have been $460 to $675. PSA 10s have sold between $900 and $1,400 since August 2026, with the market price just over $1,000. Refractor and color parallels run from /499 down to the 1/1 SuperFractor and price up from there.

For context on where this card has been: back in June 2023, right as he was called up, Sports Collectors Digest reported a 2022 Bowman Chrome autographed Gold Refractor /50 PSA 10 selling for $9,100 and a signed Blue Refractor /150 BGS 10 at $6,942. The base auto has come well off its call-up peak, as most prospect autos do once the player becomes an established big leaguer and the hype money moves on to the next name.

Tier 2: the 2024 official RCs

• 2024 Topps Series 1 #141. His first card with the RC logo. CGC's 2024 Series 1 rookie guide listed him as one of the most anticipated names in the set. It is a flagship base card with a large print run, so raw copies are a few dollars and most of the value is in parallels and PSA 10s.
• 2024 Topps Chrome #44. The Chrome version of the official RC. Raw copies sold for $1 to $3 in October 2026, PSA 9s for $15 to $20, and the PSA 10 market price is about $61. Refractors and numbered parallels carry the real money in this set.

Because the 1st Bowman cards exist, the 2024 RC-logo cards price like second-year cards for most prospects-turned-stars. If you want an Elly card that says "RC" on it, the 2024 Topps Chrome PSA 10 at about $60 is a reasonable, liquid way to do that. Just understand that the hobby premium sits with 2022 Bowman.

Why he still matters in 2026

This is not a hype-cycle player. Per FanGraphs, De La Cruz posted 25 homers and 67 steals in 2024, then 22 and 37 in 2025, and through late September 2026 he was at 30 home runs, 30 stolen bases, a .283 average and roughly 6.4 WAR. A 30/30 season from a shortstop at his age is the kind of thing that keeps a 1st Bowman relevant for a decade. The cards are not cheap because of a hot month; they are priced where they are because he has stacked three real seasons.

PSA 10 vs raw: is grading worth it?

Run the numbers on the 1st Bowman Chrome #BCP-50. A raw copy is $2 to $4. A PSA 10 is about $50. Grading fees plus shipping eat most of that gap unless you are confident the card gems, and Bowman Chrome from 2022 has well-known surface and centering issues. The math works much better on the Sapphire (raw ~$50, PSA 10 ~$170) and on the CPA-ED auto (raw ~$500 to $625, PSA 10 ~$900 to $1,400), where a 10 roughly doubles the card. If you are buying, not grading, the same logic applies in reverse: on a $50 base card, a PSA 10 slab is paying for condition certainty you may not need; on the auto, the slab is doing real work.

What to avoid

• 2023 Bowman Chrome #BCP-65 sold as a "1st Bowman." It is his second Bowman appearance. It is a fine card, but it is not the 1st Bowman and it should not be priced like one. Check for the "1st" badge on the card front.
• 2023 cards labeled "RC." There is no 2023 RC-logo Elly card from Topps. If a listing says 2023 and RC, either the seller is wrong or it is an unlicensed product.
• Unlicensed prospect cards. Panini Donruss Optic Rated Prospect, Bowman's Best Prospective Royalty-type inserts and similar were a few dollars at his call-up, per Sports Collectors Digest, and they have not become anything since. They are fine to own, not to invest in.
• Topps Now at a premium. His 2023 Topps Now call-up cards (#392 and #541) are print-to-order. They are a nice piece of the story but have no scarcity.
• Raw "gem mint" claims on the auto. At $500-plus raw, insist on clear photos of corners, edges and the signature. The gap between a raw copy and a PSA 9 is small; the gap between a 9 and a 10 is large. Buy the slab or price in the risk.

Quick reference (as of Oct 18, 2026)

• 2022 Bowman Chrome #BCP-50 1st: raw $2–4, PSA 9 $11–23, PSA 10 ~$50
• 2022 Bowman #BP-50 1st paper: raw under $5, PSA 10 $32–61
• 2022 Bowman Sapphire #BCP-50: raw $48–57, PSA 10 $110–295
• 2022 Bowman Chrome Prospect Auto #CPA-ED: raw $510–625, PSA 9 $460–675, PSA 10 $900–1,400
• 2024 Topps Chrome #44 RC: raw $1–3, PSA 9 $15–20, PSA 10 ~$61

Sources: SportsCardsPro eBay sold-listing tracking, Beckett's 2023 article on the RC cutoff, Sports Collectors Digest's June 2023 sales report, CGC's 2024 Topps Series 1 rookie guide and FanGraphs, all checked October 18, 2026.

Where to buy

We stock Elly De La Cruz singles in our Elly De La Cruz collection, and you will find his Bowman cards alongside the rest of the prospect market in our Bowman collection and MLB singles and boxes. Everything graded ships in the slab it was listed in; raw cards ship in a sleeve and top loader with tracking.