Leaf’s Metal Draft Baseball to Include Cuban Jose Abreu

Leaf Trading Cards has released the 2013 version of Metal Draft Baseball. But unlike last year’s edition, Leaf has cut its production run significantly and included one of the strongest checklists in its brand’s history. What’s more, all base autograph cards are now prismatics.

“I’m really excited about this year’s checklist,” said Leaf President Brian Gray. “Instead of just filling it with players that go deep in the draft, we went out of our way to select the cream of baseball’s elite prospects, both home-grown as well as international standouts.”

Concentrating on the hottest young players in baseball, Leaf has included such up-and-comers as Byron Buxton, Oscar Tavaras, Carlos Correa, Jorge Soler and Miguel Sano as well as 2013 top picks Mark Appel, Kris Bryant and Jonathan Gray. But the product also includes Cuban refugee Jose Abreu. Abreu, a former professional first baseman in the Cuban National Series, defected to the United States just two months ago.

Besides its modest print run and the fact that every card in the set is an autographed Prismatic, Leaf has sweetened the set with a pair of inserts that are sure to whet collectors’ appetites. “State Pride” is a 25-card insert set with parallels as rare as 1/1, while “Top Picks” boasts a lineup of 14 players taken with the top picks in the 2013 draft, again with parallels as low as 1/1.

Each box of 2103 Leaf Metal Draft Baseball includes six on-card prismatic autographs, with six boxes to every case.