12 Best 2026 Topps Series 2 Baseball Rookie Cards To Target! - Ep. 3.23

Normally we hate on Top Series 2, but this time we got three reasons to love it. Some big bopping first baseman, some awesome 22 year olds. Car collectors always love those and we have a bunch of short print awesomeness that we're going to be chasing in Series two. Foreign. I'm Dave Gantz. Build a better sports car collection with a real world budget. That's what we talk about here today. We're talking about flagship series two, 2026, not series one. Series two is about to drop and we're going to talk about the 12 best rookie cards you're wanting to pull out of those packs, out of those boxes and stuff. A lot of good young players. It's a good thing. Now Series two is taking its taking its wax the past few years because it's not quite as good as Tops Update in Series one. But this year is a little different. That's why we're going to share the 12Best Tops 20262026 Top Series 2 Rookie Cards this is a new wave of rookies for collectors to chase. The 2026 edition is especially interesting because it arrives after the first quarter of the season, which has already started to reshape the hobby conversation a little bit. Now by this point, some rookies have already built momentum, some have cooled off. Roman Anthony and a few late arriving names suddenly become the cards everyone wants. And that's what makes Topps Series two especially important. It's not just filling out the flagship checklist, which is a thing. It's often where collectors find the most relevant rookie cards of the moment, especially for players who are missing from Series one that maybe played last year or earned their spot on opening day. So for budget collectors, set builders and flippers alike, 2026 Series 2 is a practical place to hunt for real upside without immediately jumping into the high priced Chrome or Bowman products. Remember though, Series two is generally been the least productive of all the flagship series, as Topps Update usually leads the charge. So as we've noted in our list of the rookie cards from the top 100 players right now, which was a list built by MLB Network, there are far fewer players among that top 100 whose rookie cards come from series two compared to the other sets. So fewer great rookie cards from Series two. But there's still good rookie cards to get from Series two and possibly Great one Shohei Otani was a Series two rookie card good ones to get. Let's not, let's not mix that up. So we ranked the 12 best. We ranked the 14 best from top series one earlier this year and now we're hitting the top series two remember series one, man, those guys got Nolan McLean, Jacob Mizrowski, Cam Schlitler. Three awesome pitchers. Colson Montgomery, Sammy Basayo. Some good hitters. Let's see what series two has to offer. So let's get into this 2026 top series two top 12 rookies the Dirty Dozen. Why are they dirty? I don't understand. Number one, Sal Stewart, first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. Stewart's I've been waiting on this guy for a little bit. You have to love a rookie with the nickname Salbert, referencing Albert Pujols. It was given to him by his teammates and after winning NL Rookie of the of the Month honors in April, he was one of the best run producers in the majors and he struggled a little bit in May. Just a little bit. But I do like there's a lot to like about him. His age, his charisma. He's a great interview and his exit velocities are pretty good. We're a big fan. Number two Trey you Savage, starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. He's 22 years old now. He Savage struck out 12 batters in Game 5 of the 2025 World Series, which certainly could portend future postseason stardom Once again for this guy. We're already talking about the first pitcher to play for every full season affiliate from Class A to Triple A and pitch in the World Series in one year. Many consider him a favorite to win the 2026American League Rookie of the Year award and he's a 6 foot 4 right hander. A lot to like about him. He's a serious young pitcher with real buzz. Yet pitching cards usually need, you know, dominant MLB results, Cy Young type, you know, hype to keep climbing consistently. So that's what we're going to need out of Savage for these cards to keep going up. Fortunately, it looks like he's got the stuff. Feels like we've been waiting on your Savages rookie card for years, but we finally get it in tops series two and after a stellar 2025 postseason, a bum shoulder slowed him down this spring. But he's back and now we're wondering is he the new Justin Verlander is that we're looking at here? Jays fans and his rookie card holders certainly hope for that future. Number three, Bryce Eldridge, first baseman for the San Francisco Giants. Now he's 21 years old. This is the youngest player on this list and he is a literal giant in San Francisco, standing 6 foot 7 it's a big dude. The size and power that brings the Aaron Judge comparisons, but it's a little unfair to put that on him for now. He is just 21 years old. He came up last year as a 20 year old, one of the youngest to come up in the majors. And let's remember this guy was a two way star. He was a pitcher and a hitter. Now he didn't concentrate on just hitting alone until he got into the majors. So he's a little bit behind defensively as a first baseman, but he's certainly an offensive powerhouse that we are big fans of in series two. Number four Munataka Murakami, the first baseman for Chicago White Sox. He's 26 years old, but we love the moon bombs. You know Topps is planning something special some point this year. Maybe next year. Maybe with some sort of like home moon advantage card. That'd be cool. I'm a big fan. He's a surprising AD by the White Sox this past off season coming over from Japan, but he was a smart ad. He's among the American League leaders in home runs and RBIS. He's 26 years old though. It kind of hurts him collector wise. But his moon bombs will. They'll likely return to earth later on this year. But for now we're big fans of Munetaka. Murakami probably has the highest pure star power in this group, but at first base the hobby can be a little less forgiving unless he keeps producing huge numbers year after year. And he is 26 years old. So say he gets five or six years with huge numbers. That's good enough for us. Number five, catcher Carter Jensen for the Kansas City Royals. This guy's only 22 years old. Jensen's offense has collectors excited. He has great power, high exit velocities and a strong build. Some are even comparing him interestingly to Salvador Perez, the guy that he's pretty much waiting to replace behind the plate. And he's just 22 years old. Carter Jensen. Good future for this guy. Number six, Chase DeLauder, the outfielder for the Cleveland guardians. Now he's 24 years old. He was a first round pick by Cleveland in 2022. Injuries slowed his ascension a bit before he became the sixth player in the modern era to debut in the major league playoffs last year. Now my man smashed four home runs in his first regular season games this year, tying Trevor's story for that record. He fits nicely in the lineup between leadoff man Stephen Kwan and all star third baseman Jose Ramirez. It's a nice little niche to squeeze into. The Lottera is an appealing long term bet because of the tools and his on base profile. They're strong, they look good. He still has more development risk than some of the other players, but we do like him in Cleveland. He's our sixth best guy. Number seven. Another catcher, Harry Ford. Again, 23 years old. Another young guy. He's more of a hitter than a slugger and Ford joins the Nationals after an offseason trade from Seattle. He should man the tools of ignorance for the Nationals though. For the next decade he's going to be he's going to be a starter for a while Hey, I thought I'd jump in here real quick. I wanted to remind you. Make sure you go download your first free Happy Hobby Collection checklist, which you can find@ghana.substack.com it's the happy Hobby Sports Card Collection Checklist. What is that you say? Well this is the ultimate tool for sports car collectors and you get it free when you subscribe to the Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter. By the way, it's a free newsletter. You can subscribe for free. Are you ready to take control of your collection? Elevate it to that next level? Don't miss your chance on getting this exclusive checklist, a powerful digital spreadsheet designed by collectors for collectors. Claim yours instantly. Whenever you sign up for the Happy Hobby Sports Card newsletter, you can easily track your sports cards on the go with our user friendly Google Sheet. Your entire collection is always at your fingertips as whether you're at a local card shop, trade night, major card show. You can organize your best cards with the have tab. Like got it, have it, need it, all that stuff. This is your have tab. This is where you put all your best cards, the grades, all that good stuff. Any notes you can build your dream want list here. What cards you want? Put them in here. Stop wondering do I already own this card? What I look for at the next show? What do I want to get? So make sure you check it out. Go to ghanis.substack.com and subscribe and you'll get an email where you can download the free Happy Hobby Collection checklist. Number 8 Connolly early starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Why would you name your kid with the last name leaf? You you do your first name Lee if you had last name Lee. I don't understand. 24 years old starting pitcher. Is it too early to be impressed by Connolly? Not, not really. He keeps runners off home plate. But we are looking more like he's going to be a middle of the rotation guy at some point. Number nine, Kazuma Okamoto, third baseman for those Toronto Blue Jays. Again. Now he's 29 years old, so it's an older rookie we're talking about. After struggling to start his MLB career, he moved back in the batter's box. Six inches made all the difference in the world, allowed him to post a 1.108 OPS in his next 18 games. Pretty good. He's on the short list of possible AL rookie years, Rookies of the year, but he does turn 30 years old next month in June. So I don't know about a you really want to make a big investment in this one. Number 10, George Valera, outfielder for the Cleveland Guardians. Again, it's their second Cleveland Guardian now. Valera was once a top 100 MLB prospect, but this outfielder's dealt with injuries and he's had a lot of strikeouts in his in his game. That's limited his progression just a bit. 25 years old. Also number 11, another starting pitcher, Brandon Sproat for the Milwaukee Brewers. 25 years old again now he's been seeing work as a starter and a bullpen arm. He should eventually move into the rotation, but again, probably more of a middle of the rotation guy. Finally, number 12, Tatsuya Mi, starting pitcher for the Houston Astros. Another Japanese player. This guy's 28 years old, all right. Starting pitcher, strike against him. 28 years old, strike against him. Struggled out of the gate. Strike against him. But he does fit the same broad pitcher risk bucket that we were talking about earlier. That's why he lands last on this list for collectibility, even if his stuff is impressive. He was an expensive international signee and he struggled early on. They didn't even know what they're going to do with him at some point. At one, at one point. He came on recently, though, and he was part of that. He was the starting pitcher for the Astros when they had that combined no hitter in late May. He's drawn comparisons to Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo and Mets kodai senga. At 28 years old, though, not much of a card prospect, honestly. So the four starting, the four short print SP rookie cards that you're going to be trying to track down. Kevin McGonagall, Superstar JJ Weatherhole, Superstar Carson Benj for the Mets, outfielder and Justin Crawford, another outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies. Crawford is Carl Crawford, my former race, Carl Crawford's son. A lot of speed there, so you'll be trying to grab one of those guys that's always a good thing to get one of those, obviously. The first two. Weatherhole McGonagall. Those are the ones you're wanting. Which one's the best one to get out of those two, I want to hear in the comments who you think is the best one to get. I think it's going to be Weatherholt. I really do. I think that's going to be the guy we're going to want. The best 2026 top series 2 rookie cards won't just be ones with the flashiest names. They'll be the cards that combine early performance, hobby buzz, and the kind of flagship appeal that makes them easy to collect, grade and track over time. So if you're building a set, you're hunting singles, planning which rookies deserve your attention this summer. Series two is a It's a smart place to focus right now, but the key is to be selective. Watch how the market reacts. Remember that the best rookie card isn't always the most expensive one. It's often the one that has the clearest path to lasting hobby demand. So don't forget to check out our rankings for the 2026 Top Series 1 Best Rookie Cards to get. You want to check those out? I want to know in the comments who'd you like? Who you like more than I liked? Who do you like less than I liked? I want to hear in the comments. Listen, whatever you do, make sure you have a happy hobby.