The hype surrounding The Martian was already otherworldly, but this auction further escalated that into another galaxy.
The top trading card for 18-year-old Jasson Dominguez, MLB Pipeline's No. 17 overall prospect, sold for $474,000, a record for any Dominguez card, when the Goldin Auctions bidding closed Saturday night.
The 2020 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Autograph rookie card is a (1/1), making it more valuable than Juan Soto's card which was numbered (3/5). In May, Rays phenom Wander Franco saw his autographed Bowman Chrome card sell for a whopping $198,030. At that same auction, a 1909 Honus Wagner card went for $3.75 million.
The first bid came in at $30,000 on Jan. 13 and quickly rose to $101,000 within 24 hours. The price steadily rose to $161,000 over the next two weeks and a flurry of bids that came in between 4:47 p.m. and 4:48 p.m. on the final day of the auction caused the price to swell to $320,000, before rising to $395,000 (474,000 with buyer's premium) during the extended bidding period to seal the final selling price.
The Yankees signed Dominguez for a franchise-record $5.1 million in July 2019, while he was still 16 years old. Before the youngster even stepped on a field stateside, he already began drawing comparisons to Mike Trout, Bo Jackson and Yankees legend Mickey Mantle for his plus tools across the board.
After not spending any time at the Yankees' alternate training site in 2020, the switch-hitting center fielder opened last season in extended spring training where he collected four hits, drove in a run, scored five runs and drew six walks in seven games. A promotion to Low-A Tampa followed where the second-ranked Yankees prospect finished the season.
In 49 games with the Tarpons, Dominguez hit .258/.346/.398 with five home runs, a triple, nine doubles, 26 runs scored and 18 RBIs. He also worked 21 walks and swiped seven bases in 10 total attempts.
The native of Dominican Republic will most likely open this season back in Tampa, but could see a quick jump to Double-A Somerset with the elite tools that he possesses.