Stats!: Rookie Breakdown

The Opening Day set has fluctuated in size since its inception but has contained 200 cards since 2015. Today's focus will be rookie cards.

This year's set has 29 rookies (not counting photo variations), tied for the most with 2016. The official rookie card logo and designation began in 2006 so I'm not 100% confident in the early set rookie card counts. I'm using the Trading Card Database breakdown for each set.

Of the 29 rookies in Opening Day, 28 of them were in Series 1. Shohei Ohtani is the lone exception as he was a late signing. I would be surprised if he doesn't have a different photo when Series 2 is released. Of the 28 in Series 1, 24 of them used a completely different photo.

Of the remaining four, Ozzie Albies, Amed Rosario and Rhys Hoskins used the same photo, but the RC logo is in a different position than the Series 1 version. The final card, Rafael Devers, used the same photo, but went from being vertically oriented to horizontal.

So technically, aside from just trading a foil Topps logo for plain white, every Rookie Card had some kind of change.

With 30 teams and 29 rookies, at least one team would be short changed. With all of them counted up, 17 teams ended up represented and 13 were omitted.

Positionally, this breakdown makes sense. Pitchers and outfielders had a higher representation overall as well. Designated hitters are typically veteran players who for one reason or another are not playing the field as much, if at all, but can still wield the bat. Shohei Ohtani is the exception again here.

Above you'll see the rookies listed chronologically by birthdate. Parker Bridwell, born in 1991 is the oldest. Victor Robles is the youngest from 1997, however he was not on the Nationals Opening Day roster.

Next week, I'll probably have Page 2 of the 1998 set and return to Stats the week after.