2018 Topps #698 Ronald Acuña Jr. Rookie Card

The second half of the 2018 season was the Ronald Acuna Jr. Show.

Acuna’s campaign started not so great.

Ranked as the #1 prospect in baseball by multiple publications, the 20-year-old Atlanta Braves outfielder was sent down to Triple-A to start the year for obvious contractual reasons.

Acuna was ultimately called up on April 25th and impressed for a few weeks before hitting the disabled list with a left ACL sprain.

When he returned, Acuna tweaked his swing mechanics to put himself in good positions for a breakout second half.

And wow, what a half.

Moved to the leadoff spot by Braves manager Brian Snitker, Acuna hit .322 with 19 home runs in 68 second-half games.

He hit eight leadoff home runs (second-most by a rookie in MLB history) and posted the third-best OPS in the NL (1.028) after the break.

Acuna’s dazzling dance to the finish lifted the Braves to a previously unthinkable NL East title and pushed him past Washington’s Juan Soto for NL Rookie-of-the-Year honors.

You might be surprised that Acuña’s card is more valuable than Ohtani’s.

Technically, this is an “SP” variation while his true base rookie card appears in 2018 Topps Update.

And Ryan Sherriff’s base rookie holds down the standard #698 slot in the 2018 Topps checklist.

Normally, I wouldn’t include an SP variation on a list of base cards like this but, given it’s Acuña Jr. and kind of a quirk in the checklist overall, I’ll make an exception.