Bowman Chrome ‘Red RC’ Buybacks: Which Players Should You Be Holding Onto For 2026?

Updated on Nov. 4 to indicate that Kevin Alcantara is also rookie eligible in 2026.

The Bowman Red RC program—introduced this year to offer buybacks of $100 or more for certain baseball cards of players who win Rookie of the Year—is mostly focused on 2025 favorites like Nick Kurtz, Drake Baldwin and Cade Horton.

But before you go ignoring the rest of the Bowman and Bowman Chrome rookie cards you’ve collected with the bright red “RC” in the corner, there are five other players from the checklist you might want to put aside for 2026: Tsung-Che Cheng, Logan Henderson, Zac Veen, Nick Yorke and Kevin Alcantara.

Why? Because according to Baseball America research, those players will retain their rookie status in 2026. The other 56 “Red RC” eligible players on the 2025 Bowman and Bowman Chrome checklist have already graduated.

And according to Topps, which owns Bowman, Red RC cards are buyback eligible in any year—not just the year they came out.

So, while we’re not necessarily suggesting any of these players will take home NL ROY honors next year, if they do happen to win, those cards are each worth $100 in buyback credit. And if they win Rookie of the Year and then go on to win an MVP, Cy Young or even make the Hall of Fame, those cards would be worth even more.

Unless you have a huge offer on the table for any of those players’ Red RC cards, it might be worthwhile to tuck them away heading into 2026, because you never know.