Cody Bellinger's scorching start means more hot cardboard

You should know all about him after his dominating 2017 arrival that ended with the National League Rookie of the Year award in his hands and a World Series run that came up one run short of a championship. Last year? Not quite as bold statistically but still strong with another World Series loss.

This year?

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger leads the NL with nine homers in his first 17 games -- that's 36 percent of his total all of last season, three more than the closest slugger in his own league and just one short of the only player in the game today tops him today (American League slugger Khris Davis). It's a hot start.

He appears on more than 3,200 different baseball cards but only 600 or so of those are certified autographs (Buzz is waiting on a redemption) and, while these numbers have all exploded since his arrival they're not that big in the big-picture as he's dominating once again.

Bellinger's first baseball cards arrived back in 2013 in a few prospect sets and he's got roughly 30 Rookie Cards from 2017 releases.

If you need an early Bellinger auto, there are only a handful of places to check. His oldest are in 2013 Elite Extra Edition where his standard auto is limited to only 673 copies along with eight parallels. (Helping out here? Plenty of hits per box ... and Hot Boxes.) After that, he appeared in 2015 Bowman Chrome for his first MLB-approved prospect auto. Both brands are still findable in box form -- and he's not alone among big names in those releases.

His RCs are in 2017 Topps Transcendent Collection (Buzz's redemption ... as it's autographed), Bowman Chrome, Bowman Platinum, Bowman's Best, Donruss, Donruss Optic, Panini Chronicles, Flawless, Gold Standard, National Treasures, Prizm, Topps Chrome, Topps Chrome Update, Topps Update, Topps Holiday, Diamond Icons, Dynasty, Topps Fire, Topps Gallery, Gold Label, Heritage High Number and High Tek -- many of which can still be found in box form, too.

After last season, Bellinger might be off the radar a tad compared to where he was before, but this kind of start is one that could ignite interest all year long in a major market for a team that's been in the hunt. That's a recipe for hot cardboard all summer long.

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