Top pick Swanson headlines new card set

It's been almost six months since the top high school and collegiate baseball players waited anxiously for their names to be called during the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Now, many of these top prospects are getting their first taste of the Majors by being immortalized on an official MLB trading card.

The 2015 edition of Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects will be released Wednesday, Dec. 9, with dozens of highly touted prospects gracing the collectible cardboard in their organization's big league uniform for the first time. One of Topps' final releases of 2015, the collection includes a 200-card base set with autographs, inserts and sub-sets aplenty.

The product is primarily aimed at the prospectors and autograph collectors of the baseball card fraternity with many fans hoping to find a rare signature of the game's next big superstar. More than half of MLB.com's Top 100 prospects can be found throughout the set, including 30 of the top 50 prospects and six of the top 10.

In addition, 32 of the 36 players selected in the first round of the 2015 Draft have at least one card in the product -- 31 of these have an autograph in the set -- and 137 of the 200 players in the base set are appearing on a baseball card in their MLB jersey for the first time. While the main emphasis is on players selected in June, there's no lack of recognizable prospects who have already started to make a name for themselves in the Minors.

Leading the way is baseball's top pitching prospect, Lucas Giolito, Dodgers teen phenom Julio Urias, No. 1 Phillies prospect J.P. Crawford and hard-throwing Pirates right-hander Tyler Glasnow, all of whom are ranked among MLB.com's top seven prospects. Rockies shortstop Brendan Rodgers, selected third overall in the 2015 Draft, and top overall pick Dansby Swanson of the D-backs -- ranked ninth and 10th respectively -- are also heavily featured in the product.

Baseball's top two prospects, Byron Buxton and Corey Seager, appeared in the 2013 and 2014 editions of Bowman Draft and are not included this year.

There are 200 base cards to collect, each one also printed in seven parallel variations of different colors and scarcity. As in previous years, the base set also comes in a chrome version, which itself has nine parallel versions. The most rare parallels, such as the metallic paper base card, the chrome SuperFractor and the actual printing plates used to manufacture each card are one-of-a-kind collectibles, while others such as the red and orange parallels are sequentially numbered to five and 25 respectively.

Outside of the main base cards, 60 players from 29 different organizations (Toronto is absent) have on-card autographs on the Chrome Draft Pick Prospect Autographs checklist. Rodgers and Swanson are the two highest-ranked prospects with individual autograph cards, but White Sox righty and MLB.com No. 42 prospect Carson Fulmer, Rangers right-hander Dillon Tate (No. 46 overall), Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker (No. 56 overall) and Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi (No. 62) add depth to the lineup.

There are 13 top 100 prospects with ink hiding inside packs and 56 of the 60 signers feature players selected in the first three rounds of the 2015 Draft. Of the other four, Mariano Rivera, son of the legendary Yankees closer of the same name, and Conor Biggio, son of Hall of Fame second baseman Craig Biggio, generate additional name recognition among collectors.

These autographs, along with the more rare color variations of the card, are among the most sought-after cards in the set. Last year, Kyle Schwarber and Alex Jackson autos proved a big hit with collectors; in 2013 it was Kris Bryant, Clint Frazier and Austin Meadows; in 2012, Corey Seager, Billy Hamilton, Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy and Jorge Soler were the most popular on the secondary market.

Inserts

When it comes to inserts and sub-sets, the 2015 edition of Bowman Draft is one of the deepest yet thanks to several new additions to the 2014 set as well as some returning favorites.

New this year is a sub-set called Draft Dividends. These cards feature players who were drafted out of high school, did not sign with the team and then got drafted again out of college. As the name suggests, all of these players saw their draft stock rise after benefiting from the collegiate game.

This set features 10 players in total, led by Swanson, who went from being a prep shortstop out of Marietta, Georgia, selected 1,158th overall in 2012 to the top amateur prospect in the nation after a standout season at Vanderbilt University. Richie Martin went from the 1,151st name called in 2012 to No. 20 in 2015, Benintendi went from being selected 945th overall in the 31st round of the 2013 Draft by the Reds to the seventh overall pick by the Red Sox this summer and Orioles outfielder DJ Stewart climbed 852 places since he was first selected by the Yankees in 2012.

Also new for the 2015 release is the Teams of Tomorrow sub-set. These die-cut cards pair a top 2015 draftee with another top prospect from the same organization. The 20-card set features the likes of top Reds catching prospect Tyler Stephenson paired alongside No. 1 Cincinnati prospect Jesse Winker; 2015 first-round shortstop Kevin Newman with No. 2 Bucs prospect Austin Meadows; and Rangers right-handers Tate and Luis Ortiz, the top two pitching prospects in Texas' organization.

In terms of content returning from 2014, Prime Pairings (named Dual Draftees last year) feature elite 2015 Draft picks who share common bonds with another top prospect, while Draft Night cards feature images of Rodgers, Royals right-hander Ashe Russell, Rays outfielder Garrett Whitley and Rockies righty Mike Nikorak on the night of the 2015 Draft when their name was called by commissioner Rob Manfred.

Elsewhere, among the highlights of the Prime Pairings set is a Rockies card signed by Rodgers and Forrest Wall and a Rays card signed by Whitley and Robertson. Relic cards also make a return this fall. Cut from the Team USA and World Team game-worn jerseys used at July's Futures Game in Cincinnati, pieces of cloth from the likes of Brandon Nimmo, Blake Snell, Nomar Mazara, Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia will be a popular chase for fans.

Autographed cards of prospects such as Daz Cameron and Tucker from the Under Armour showcase return, but the 35-card Bowman Scouts' Breakout sub-set from 2014 has been replaced by the 20-card Bowman Initiation and Bowman Scouts Fantasy Impact subsets, the latter of which also includes an autographed version of the card.

In addition, extra "box topper" cards and the parallel orange wave autographed box toppers will be randomly inserted in hobby boxes. The hobby boxes feature 24 packs of seven cards; the jumbo boxes offer 12 packs of 32 cards; and the super jumbo boxes offer 10 packs of 60 cards.