Topps has published the checklist for 2026 Topps Chrome Update Series Baseball, and the MLB Rookie Debut Patch Autograph section runs to 198 cards, each one of one, from Roman Anthony to Zach Maxwell. Pre-orders open Monday, November 2 at 12:00 PM ET. The MLB Debut Patch tracker is now live with every card on it, waiting for the first pull, and before anything is pulled we are putting our call on the record: the twenty cards we expect to lead the set, and what each should sell for. The full table with the reasoning lives on the predictions page; this is the summary.
How the ranking works
Six factors, each scored 1 to 10 and weighted: the 2026 season (25%), team market (15%), reach beyond the team including the Japanese market (15%), hobby demand before the set (15%), what the player’s 2026 Topps Chrome cards list for today (20%), and the postseason (10%). The price range is not computed from the score. Each card is matched to the recorded MLB Debut Patch sale it most resembles, from the ten on our sales ledger, and the range is set around that comp. The shape of those ten sales: a Rookie of the Year with a story is $500,000 to $1.1 million (Paul Skenes, Nick Kurtz), a top prospect with a real season is $150,000 to $200,000 (Jackson Holliday, Wyatt Langford, James Wood), a quiet season is $50,000 to $100,000 (Marcelo Mayer, Junior Caminero, Shota Imanaga).
The top 20
Every line below is the full 2026 regular season from Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs or ESPN, checked player by player on October 30.
| # | Player | Most likely | Range | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cam Schlittler, Yankees | $600K | $400K to $900K | 14-6, 1.95 ERA, 239 strikeouts, 7.0 bWAR, an All-Star and an AL Cy Young case in pinstripes; a 1.69 ERA in two playoff starts before the Rays swept the Yankees. His 2026 Chrome Black base is the priciest on the page |
| 2 | Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers | $575K | $400K to $850K | 16-5, 1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 252 strikeouts, 6.5 bWAR, an NL Cy Young case, then four postseason starts at 1.89 and the scoreless World Series clincher for the first title in Brewers history |
| 3 | Kevin McGonigle, Tigers | $350K | $250K to $500K | .278/.376/.430, 18 HR, 72 RBI, 5.4 fWAR, All-Star, an eight-year $150 million extension in April, and the AL Rookie of the Year favorite |
| 4 | Roman Anthony, Red Sox | $300K | $200K to $450K | A lost year: wrist sprain May 4, the 60-day IL, back August 30, .245 with 5 HR in 55 games. Still the name the hobby built the set around, priced like it |
| 5 | Munetaka Murakami, White Sox | $225K | $150K to $350K | 35 HR and 92 walks against .207 and 196 strikeouts, All-Star and Home Run Derby; the one household name in Japan in this set, which is a bidder pool the stats do not describe |
| 6 | Sal Stewart, Reds | $250K | $150K to $400K | .263/.330/.457, 32 HR, 111 RBI (led MLB), all 162 games, All-Star, already the Players Choice and Sporting News NL rookie of the year, and a $1.60 base card. The widest gap between production and price on the list |
| 7 | Konnor Griffin, Pirates | $225K | $150K to $350K | Debuted at 19, signed for nine years days later, then a finger injury cost him two months; .272 with 23 steals in 80 games. The priciest rookie base in 2026 Chrome anyway |
| 8 | JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals | $130K | $90K to $200K | .242/.339/.365, 17 HR, 14 SB, 4.6 fWAR; wrist tendinitis ended his season August 30 |
| 9 | Jac Caglianone, Royals | $140K | $100K to $200K | .289 with 23 HR and 75 RBI, AL Player of the Month for August; the following outruns the season |
| 10 | Carson Benge, Mets | $90K | $60K to $140K | .280/.344/.429, 20 HR, 22 SB, 4.2 bWAR, the first 20-20 rookie season in Mets history |
| 11 | Nolan McLean, Mets | $100K | $70K to $150K | 12-10, 3.16 ERA, 194 strikeouts over 179.2 innings; solid, not the breakout |
| 12 | Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays | $100K | $70K to $150K | 3.69 ERA in 20 starts, knee surgery in August; the October 2025 run still carries the card |
| 13 | Kazuma Okamoto, Blue Jays | $90K | $60K to $150K | 33 HR, 92 RBI, .232; Japanese demand, dead card market |
| 14 | Parker Messick, Guardians | $90K | $60K to $140K | 12-9, 2.56 ERA, 193 strikeouts, 6.3 bWAR, All-Star, two playoff starts on the way to the ALCS, and a $0.94 base card. The best season nobody is buying |
| 15 | Bryce Eldridge, Giants | $75K | $50K to $120K | .269/.364/.461 with 17 HR in 107 games before a concussion ended his season |
| 16 | Chase DeLauter, Guardians | $60K | $40K to $90K | .287/.363/.457, 16 HR, fifth in the AL in average, .310 in the postseason |
| 17 | Tatsuya Imai, Astros | $55K | $40K to $90K | 4.93 ERA, arm fatigue in April, half his games out of the bullpen; the Imanaga comp discounted |
| 18 | Samuel Basallo, Orioles | $55K | $40K to $90K | .222 with 18 HR, two IL stints, season over September 23; pedigree intact, season not |
| 19 | Bubba Chandler, Pirates | $50K | $35K to $75K | 8-10, 4.62 ERA over 154 innings |
| 20 | TJ Rumfield, Rockies | $45K | $30K to $70K | .300/.390/.453, 16 HR, 3.5 WAR, led every qualified NL hitter in on-base, Rookie of the Month twice, and a $0.32 base card |
Three things the table cannot tell you
Timing. Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 2024 card sold for $1.1 million in September 2026, after a breakout year, not the week it was pulled. A Stewart or Griffin card held for a season could double; the same card sold the week it’s pulled gets today’s number. Grading. The biggest MLB sales were PSA 9s at a major auction with a buyer’s premium; a raw card sells below these ranges until it is slabbed. And the awards. The BBWAA Rookie of the Year vote is announced in November; Stewart has already taken the Players Choice and Sporting News awards, and the McGonigle, Messick and Wetherholt rows move with the result.
Who is not on the checklist
The set covers debuts from June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026, the same window every Chrome Update has used. Baseball America counts 51 eligible players without a card, 38 of them May 2026 debuts that were probably too late for the production cycle. Two names stand out among the rest: Carson Williams (Rays, debuted August 22, 2025) and Esmerlyn Valdez (Pirates, May 22, 2026), both eligible, both absent, no reason given. And one with a reason: Payton Tolle (Red Sox, 147 strikeouts, Baseball America’s sixth-ranked rookie) debuted August 29, 2025 wearing the patch, and it fell off between warm-ups and the first pitch. There is no Tolle Debut Patch because there is no Tolle debut patch.
Every card in the set has a page on the tracker, and the still-out-there page lists all 198 until the first one surfaces. When it does, the form on the tracker is the fastest way to tell us.
Sources: the Topps checklist; Baseball America; Bleacher Report; MLB.com; CBS Sports; Baseball America on the omissions; Baseball-Reference; FanGraphs; Sportlots; SportsCardsPro; Cardlines; the Breaking Analytics Debut Patch sales ledger.