Box Break: 2009 Bowman Draft Picks (Dos Autos)

This is the second box that I bought from Atlanta Sports Cards with the money I made from the Jason Heyward Aflac Auto (I promise that's the last time I mention it for a while--although, I did sell for $500 so I feel I am allowed to gloat a little). After the stirring success I had with a box of 2008 Bowman Draft, I felt it was only fair that I gave the '09 variety a chance to shine. Well, my good luck continued with a great box, including two rookie autos and a bevy of refractors and numbered parallels. Here are the best cards from my box of 2009 Bowman Draft Picks:

Mike Minor Refractor Auto #494/500: Mike "Spike" Minor is one of the best strikeout pitchers in the minor leagues, with 101 punch outs in just 80 innings. Another in a long string of talented Atlanta pitching prospects, Minor was the #7 overall pick out of Vanderbilt last year after a storied college career. I would have been plenty happy if this was the only auto I pulled from the box, but...

Jared Mitchell Gold Refractor Auto #33/50: I was hoping to pull a colored refractor out of this box and was thrilled when I opened a pack and saw the golden edge shining on one of the cards. I was ecstatic when I realized that the gold refractor was also an autograph of White Sox top prospect Jared Mitchell. A two-sport star at LSU, Chicago envisions Mitchell as their leadoff man of the future. I'm not quite patient enough to wait for that to happen, so I went ahead and sold this card for twice what I paid for the box. Yeah, I'm on a bit of a roll. Let's hope it continues on to 2010 A & G.

Overall Thoughts: With a strong rookie class (Mike Minor, Mike Trout, Mike Leake, Bobby Borchering, Drew Stanton, etc.) and a chance at multiple autos per box, 2009 Bowman Draft Picks is a great box to break for aspiring prospectors. The boxes have risen in price from around $55 to $75, so if you can find a box at the low end of that spectrum I would encourage you to go for it. Of course, I might be a little biased...