The Best Rookie & Prospect Cards of Francisco Lindor And Why They Are Solid Buys

In today’s hype-driven hobby, it is common for a high draft pick to make his big league debut without his cards already commanding very high prices.

But sometimes, something odd happens. Today we’ll look at a player who burst onto the big league scene at the age of 21 and quickly became a star. 10 years on he’s looking like a likely future Hall of Famer.

Yet his prospect and rookie cards still feel like solid buys and have lower-graded populations than one might expect.

That player is Francisco Lindor. But who is Lindor? And what are his First Bowman, Rookie, and other early career cards? And are his cards a good buy?

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Who is Francisco Lindor?

Francisco Lindor was drafted by the Cleveland Indians with the 8^th overall pick inthe 2011 MLB Draft. He made his major league debut in 2015 and quickly excelled, putting up a 4 WAR season and finishing 2^nd in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Carlos Correa.

From 2016 to 2019, Lindor was an All Star every season with two Gold Glove awards and two Silver Slugger awards. He quickly established himself as one of the top young shortstops in the game.

After the pandemic-shorted 2020 season, he was traded to the New York Mets. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were solid but unspectacular for Lindor, but he still signed a huge contract extension with the Mets during the 2021-2022 off-season.

The deal guaranteed Lindor $341 million over 10 years, meaning he’ll be in Queens through age 38.

In 2022 and 2023, Lindor had two strong seasons, finishing 9^th in the NL MVP voting both years. In 2024, he stepped up his game and finished 2^nd in the MVP voting to Shohei Ohtani, putting up a 138 OPS+ with 33 HR and 29 stolen bases in a season worth 6.9 WAR.

Going into his age 31 season in 2025, Lindor will now be teamed up with Soto to form an impressive 1-2 punch for the Mets. He has a career line of 274/.342/.476 with an OPS of .818 and an OPS+ of 119. In 2025 he should pass 1,500 career hits, 250 career home runs, and 200 stolen bases.

Francisco Lindor has a career WAR total of 49.6, tied with Hall of Famer Willie Wells and ranking 25^th all-time among shortstops.

Lindor still has a long time to go in his career, meaning he appears to be on a Hall of Fame path. In fact, of the 24 players ranked above him in career WAR among shortstops, only four aren’t in the Hall of Fame.

That includes PED poster boy Alex Rodriguez, long-ago stars Bill Dahlen and Jack Glasscock and Bert Campaneris. A handful of additional strong seasons should move Lindor into lock territory, especially if he and Soto can combine to lead the Mets into the playoffs with some regularity.

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The Francisco Lindor 1st Bowman card

Francisco Lindor has his First Bowman Cards (FBC) in 2011 products. Well, kind of. His 2011 Bowman cards have a 1^st Bowman Card logo, but he also appears on 2010 Bowman cards related to his play with USA Baseball. Those cards also sport the 1^st Bowman Card logo, as well.

The paper version, 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Prospects Francisco Lindor #BDPP53, has been graded fewer than 400 times by PSA, with barely 50 in PSA 10 slabs.

There have been no recent sales of a 10, although a 9 sold recently for a very reasonable $35. I suspect those black borders make this one unusually tough.

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The chrome version, 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Prospects Francisco Lindor #BDPP53, has a total PSA population about twice as high as the paper, with far more PSA 10s. They sell for a very reasonable $80-100 in a PSA 10 slab.

The 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Prospect Autographs Francisco Lindor #BCAP-FL is the premium, autographed version, and has been graded less than 200 times by PSA. Over half of those are in a PSA 10 slab, however, and they sell for about $410-475 in that condition.

Honestly, at those price points and populations, you can’t go wrong with any of the four cards. The low population on the paper card makes it a good value buy, if you can find one. The Chrome is very reasonably priced for a potential future Hall of Famer, and the autograph, while more expensive, offers a low pop and again, a HOF-caliber player.

In 2011 Lindor also appeared in Bowman Sterling, although those don’t sport the 1^st Bowman logo.

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The Francisco Lindor rookie card

Francisco Lindor’s rookie cards came in 2015, the same year he finished 2^nd in the Rookie of the Year voting in the American League.

The 2015 Bowman Chrome Francisco Lindor #89 has been graded fewer than 400 times by PSA, with just over 100 PSA 10’s. The last sale of a PSA 10 was for around $60, although there aren’t many recent comps.

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The Topps chromium version, 2015 Topps Chrome Francisco Lindor #202, has been graded a bit more, but with a higher percentage of PSA 10’s. Recent comps have been in the $165-215. The autograph version (2015 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs #BCAR-FL Francisco Lindor) has been graded a scant 39 times by PSA, with no recent comps.

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Other rookie year Lindor cards appear in 2015 Bowman’s Best, 2015 Topps Dynasty, 2015 Topps Five Star, 2015 Topps Heritage, 2015 Topps High Tek, 2015 Topps Strata, 2015 Topps Supreme, 2015 Topps Triple Threads, and more. There are a number of parallels, autographs, print plates, and other rarities to keep a Lindor fan chasing rookie year cards for a long time!

Other early Francisco Lindor cards of note

Lindor appeared on cards for a couple of years before being drafted thanks to his participation on Team USA.  His first cardboard appearance was on 2009 Upper Deck USA Baseball cards. The standard card has a low population, but still only fetches around $50 in a PSA 10.

In 2010, he appeared in 2010 Bowman Chrome USA Stars. These sell for only about $30-50 in a PSA 10, making them an interest pre-rookie Lindor that can be had for an affordable price.

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We already referenced the 2011 Bowman Sterling appearance, which was on a Prospect Autographs card. These sell for around $200, making it a reasonably priced draft-year autograph.

Final thoughts on the best rookie & prospect cards of Francisco Lindor

Francisco Lindor is a player who’s still in his prime, but who has already done enough to be in the conversation of future Cooperstown induction.

The fact that he’ll now be teamed up with Juan Soto on a Mets team looking to compete going forward should only shine more of a spotlight on a player who, to date, has been a bit of an overlooked superstar.

Yet, his prospect and rookie cards remain fairly reasonably priced, offering lower PSA populations than one would expect of a player of this caliber.

What’s your take on Francisco Lindor? What’s your favorite rookie, prospect, or other card? Think he’s a good buy? Or are you not sold on him? Tell us about it at CardLines on X.

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