Sorare MLB Market Watch – 03.02.23
It’s March, and while spring training heats up, the card market remains cool.
To spice things up, I’ve been working on a refresh of the EtherSport logo and branding in preparation for an amazing season.
Can you tell how excited I am?
5 (ahem… 6) Quick Hits
Letter from the Chief
Twitter has been rumbling about the card market for a bit.
But I wanted to echo the themes of patience and perseverance once more.
As early managers to an innovative project, the road won’t always be smooth.
But if we all zoom out a little things look pretty darn good from where I sit.
New Rule Kinks
Spring training always has a few bumps as new rules are tested.
The pitch clock is just the latest, and perhaps most amusing iteration.
Let’s hope most of these kinks are worked out by the season.
Ending a game on a pitch clock violation is a bad look.
New Rule Benefits
On the other hand, this comparison was simply mind-bending.
Watch the video and let things sink in.
The right pane was one pitch. One.
While the left zipped through 3 outs.
I dunno how this pitch clock thing will end up, but if it means more action, I might be coming around!
Spring Bombs
As Boroski said on Twitter, “I won’t overreact to preseason…”
But part of me really wants to overreact to some dingers.
With many players not waiting around to mash -
This Vlad Jr. 💣 was my favorite.
Content Heats Up
Hunter helped kick us off with some pre-season primer work
This is a great TLDR on much of what you need to know if you missed the first half-season on the platform.
It is wonderful seeing my fellow writers catching the preseason fever too.
Club Shop and Coins
This little, unassuming nugget snuck in late in the week.
But it might have a profound impact.
And not just on Football.
MLB and NBA could benefit mightily from more ways to win, earn, and engage with the game.
Buyin’ & Sellin’
Ok. I shouldn’t have said anything about the auction rate on Sorare MLB being slow. This week it actually got slower, if you can believe it. Hopefully, we see an uptick in auctions soon because I have some early sleepers I desperately want to pounce on.
In the interim, we will play the same game as last week. Here are some player mentions that are hitting initial auctions in the coming days whose values might be worth considering:
Sellin’
Top-tier Rookies (Kinda)
Ltd average: .XXX | Rare average: .XXX
Ok a little bit of a cop-out, but I am noticing a trend - one I touched on a couple weeks back too - the rookies everyone knows, such as Wander Franco, Francisco Alvarez, Gunnar Henderson, and the like, are going for quite high rates at auction.
Some of this is warranted, they are top prospects for a reason and could make a difference for your team (and theirs) for years to come.
But some of this is rookie fever aided and abetted by the lack of auction volume. Managers with the fever want the new shiny, and because there is only one on auction for the entire month… they claw the price upward.
Wonderful supply control on the part of Sorare, but I will be waiting for the supply to normalize before I hop in on these guys.
Buyin’
Ltd average: .0210 | Rare average: .168
Ok the rare price is not a particularly fun entry point. I’m banking on that being a factor of non-existent auctions right now.
When the season starts back up, if we start seeing sub-.1 prices on Devers rare cards, I will be the first one in that pool.
Auction rate aside, that limited price is pretty appealing for one of the best young hitters in the game.
I feel like Rafael is catching shade for having a mediocre back half of the season last year.
But the guy is 26 and could easily hit .300 with 30 HR this year. Easily.