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It should come as no surprise that the Athletics have plenty of players to target in the recently released 2025 Bowman Chrome series. From AL Rookie of the Year favorite Nick Kurtz to Jacob Wilson aiming to become just the third rookie ever to win the batting title, they've had plenty of success at the big-league level.

Yet, Baseball America recently gave the A's farm system an A+ for the 2025 campaign, meaning there are plenty of other prospects to keep an eye on in this drop.

One of the under-the-radar players to keep an eye out for will be Shotaro Morii, who will be featured in the International Refractors. There will be 50 players featured in the set, and just five autographs available for each player. Morii will have a couple of different autographs featured in this series which could become very valuable collector's pieces in the years to come.

For those unfamiliar with Morii, the A's signed him back in January as an 18-year-old two-way player. He's still very early in his development and hasn't reached full-season ball just yet, but he has a chance to really stand out as a two-way player.

While both pitching and hitting is quite an accomplishment in itself, Morii is attempting to be both a starting pitcher and a shortstop. If he's successful, he would be a 1/1 player, like Shohei Ohtani is now. In 43 games at the plate this season, he hit .258 with a .399 OBP, with three home runs and four stolen bases in the Arizona League.

While he didn't pitch at that level, he did get on the mound in the Instructional League, according to Jesús Cano of Baseball America.

Kurtz will also have a red rookie card available, which means there will be a red "RC" featured on some of his cards. What makes the red rookie cards intriguing is that collectors wouldn't have to find a seller for the cards, they could just trade it in for escalating amounts of Fanatics Fancash for every award they bring home.

With Kurtz expected to win AL Rookie of the Year, his card would have a trade-in value of $100 after he lands that first award. If he went on to win an MVP award over the course of his career, that would go up to $300. Two MVPs would net $500, while a Hall of Fame induction $1000 in Fancash.

In addition to Morii, Kurtz, and Wilson, first-year pro Tommy White will also be featured, and he could be a player to keep an eye on moving forward. The guy's nickname is "Tommy Tanks" after all.

Wilson is listed on the checklist for an autograph/relic, which will be a piece of jersey or some other game-used piece of memorabilia. There is a chance that one could be worth a good chunk of change if he continues on his current career trajectory.

This is bound to be an exciting set of brand new cards featuring some of the top prospects in baseball, and the Athletics will have plenty of guys to target.


This article first appeared on Oakland Athletics on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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