The Top 10 CSG-certified Julio Rodriguez Baseball Cards
Posted on 4/3/2023
On April 8, 2022, 21-year-old Dominican outfielder Julio Rodriguez made his major league debut on Opening Day as the Seattle Mariners' center fielder. In just his first season with Seattle, the elite prospect made the 2022 MLB All-Star team, came in second in the Home Run Derby and won both the Silver Slugger Award and the AL Rookie of the Year Award. However, Rodriguez's meteoric rise to MLB stardom began when he was just a teenager.
The outfielder started his professional baseball journey at 16 years old when he joined the Mariners' rookie-level affiliate in the Dominican Prospect League. The average age of DPL players was at least three years older than Rodriguez, but he still stood out, making the DPL All-Star team in his first season.
He would quickly move up the ranks as Seattle transferred him to the minor leagues in the US, where he became the team's No. 1 prospect and the No. 2 overall on the MLB Top 100 Prospects list. Now, he is already one of the leaders on a much-improved Mariners team as Seattle made the playoffs in 2022 for the first time in 21 years. At this pace, Rodriguez could be among the MLB's perennial best much sooner than anyone expected.
In fact, Rodriguez had such a great rookie season that he's being prominently used to promote the new 2023 Topps Baseball Series 1 on all packaging. To celebrate the young MLB star and his inclusion as the main endorser of the new Topps series, we're revisiting 10 of his best baseball cards that were graded by Certified Sports Guaranty® (CSG®).
Standout Cards of a Standout Player
2017 Panini Elite Extra Edition Future Threads Silhouette Autographs #FTSA-JU Julio Rodriguez - Red
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| 2017 Panini Elite Extra Edition Future Threads Silhouette Autographs #FTSA-JU Julio Rodriguez - Red 20/35 graded CSG Gem Mint 10, with Autograph graded CSG 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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One of the highlights of Rodriguez's CSG-graded cards is one dating back to his teenage years playing in the Dominican Republic. The 2017 Panini Elite Extra Edition Future Threads Silhouette Autographs #FTSA-JU Julio Rodriguez - Red 20/35 graded CSG Gem Mint 10, with Autograph graded CSG 10 is an amazing card from the outfielder's earliest days of playing pro baseball. It not only features a game-used piece of his DPL jersey, but it also includes one of Rodriguez's earliest hand-signed autographs, which was limited to only 35 copies.
2019 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #CPA-JRO Julio Rodriguez - Green Shimmer Refractor
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| 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #CPA-JRO Julio Rodriguez - Green Shimmer Refractor 23/99 graded CSG Gem Mint 10, with Autograph graded CSG 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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Here's another card from Rodriguez's early days, this time in the minor leagues. The 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #CPA-JRO Julio Rodriguez - Green Shimmer Refractor 23/99 graded CSG Gem Mint 10, with Autograph graded CSG 10 is another great card that includes the young MLB star's signature. Limited to only 99 copies, the rare Green Shimmer Refractor shows Rodriguez at bat while playing for Seattle's farm system. As noted in the top left corner, this is a parallel of the player's "1st Bowman" baseball card.
2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP-33 Julio Rodriguez - Gold Shimmer Refractor
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| 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP-33 Julio Rodriguez - Gold Shimmer Refractor 16/50 graded CSG Gem Mint 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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Here's another card from the 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects set, but this time without the autograph and the green is swapped out for gold. The 2019 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP-33 Julio Rodriguez - Gold Shimmer Refractor 16/50 graded CSG Gem Mint 10 includes the same image as the previous Green Shimmer Refractor and also has a limited run of just 50 copies.
2019 Bowman Sterling Die-Cut Autographs #SDCA-JR Julio Rodriguez - Blue Refractor
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| 2019 Bowman Sterling Die-Cut Autographs #SDCA-JR Julio Rodriguez - Blue Refractor 23/25 graded CSG 9.5, with Autograph graded CSG 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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Bowman released some of the best early Julio Rodriguez's cards during his minor league career. The 2019 Bowman Sterling Die-Cut Autographs #SDCA-JR Julio Rodriguez - Blue Refractor 23/25 graded CSG 9.5, with Autograph graded CSG 10 is another fine example, this time in a unique horizontal die-cut autographed card. The premium Bowman Sterling card has a blue border, a chrome background, is limited to just 25 cards and includes Rodriguez's signature in blue ink.
2021 Bowman's Best #49 Julio Rodriguez - Red Lava Refractor
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| 2021 Bowman's Best #49 Julio Rodriguez - Red Lava Refractor 5/5 graded CSG 9.5 Click images to enlarge. |
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Additionally, there's one more Bowman card on this list from 2021, which was his last season in the minors before Rodriguez would make his MLB debut. The 2021 Bowman's Best #49 Julio Rodriguez - Red Lava Refractor 5/5 graded CSG 9.5 is one of the rarest Rodriguez cards, with only five released. This is another visually striking parallel as the Red Lava Refractor shows Rodriguez rounding the bases after a home run with a big smile on his face.
2022 Topps Chrome Logofractor Edition #111 Julio Rodriguez - Rose Gold
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| 2022 Topps Chrome Logofractor Edition #111 Julio Rodriguez - Rose Gold 1/1 Variation graded CSG Gem Mint 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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This is a special card from Topps Chrome, especially since it is a one-of-one parallel in the Rose Gold variation. The 2022 Topps Chrome Logofractor Edition #111 Julio Rodriguez - Rose Gold 1/1 Variation graded CSG Gem Mint 10 is a one-of-a-kind baseball card that features the center fielder at bat during his rookie season last year. The chrome design, rose gold border, classic Topps "RC" logo and 1/1 numbering make this a standout card. The card is so special, CSG Vice President Andy Broome spoke to the lucky owner in October 2022 about pulling the 1/1 card from a pack. You can watch CSG's short interview about the card here.
2022 Topps Chrome Sapphire #67 Julio Rodriguez - Orange
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| 2022 Topps Chrome Sapphire #67 Julio Rodriguez - Orange 10/25 graded CSG Gem Mint 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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Here's another parallel from the popular Topps Chrome series with a low print run. The 2022 Topps Chrome Sapphire #67 Julio Rodriguez - Orange 10/25 graded CSG Gem Mint 10 is another rare rookie card, with only 25 copies released in the Orange variety. It features Rodriguez at the plate as he swings for the fences while wearing Seattle's grey jersey and a pair of sunglasses.
2022 Topps Update #US44 Julio Rodriguez - Variation with Ichiro
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| 2022 Topps Update #US44 Julio Rodriguez - Variation with Ichiro graded CSG Gem Mint 10 Click images to enlarge. |
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The 2022 Topps Update series came out toward the end of last season after the releases of the 2022 Topps Series 1 and Series 2 sets. While many of the base cards are common, the series does still have numerous inserts and parallels. The 2022 Topps Update #US44 Julio Rodriguez - Variation with Ichiro graded CSG Gem Mint 10 is fascinating since the image is a variation from the base card's photo, with Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki accompanying the young Rodriguez on the card.
2022 Topps Update #US44 Julio Rodriguez - Mother's Day Pink
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| 2022 Topps Update #US44 Julio Rodriguez - Mother's Day Pink 15/50 graded CSG 9.5 Click images to enlarge. |
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Similar to the last card on the list, this is another 2022 Topps Update #US44. However, this is a special parallel made to honor Mother's Day that's limited to only 50 copies. The 2022 Topps Update #US44 Julio Rodriguez - Mother's Day Pink 15/50 graded CSG 9.5 has a shiny pink border and a great image of Rodriguez about to run to first base while wearing a Mariners uniform.
2022 Topps Now #112 Julio Rodriguez
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| 2022 Topps Now #112 Julio Rodriguez 1/1 graded CSG 9 Click images to enlarge. |
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The final example on the CSG-graded list is another one-of-one baseball card from Rodriguez's rookie season in 2022. The 2022 Topps Now #112 Julio Rodriguez 1/1 graded CSG 9 is the only card of its kind. There are numerous varieties of this card within the 2022 Topps Now series that feature the same image of the outfielder after he just took a swing at a pitch. However, this special parallel has a gold border surrounding the bottom half of the card and includes the rare 1/1 designation just below the Topps Now logo in the upper left corner.
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