Panini America Signs Multi-Year Deal to Produce Minor League Baseball Trading Cards
Panini America is expanding its baseball card business with a new multi-year agreement that will allow the company to feature active Minor League Baseball players across its trading card portfolio. Panini America and MLB Players, Inc., the business arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association, announced the non-exclusive agreement Monday. The deal covers every active Minor League Baseball player and gives Panini the ability to build prospect-focused checklists across multiple baseball brands and product formats.
The first release under the agreement will be Panini Three and Two Baseball, which is scheduled to launch in November 2026. Panini says Minor League players will also appear in future products including Donruss Elite Extra Edition and Prizm Baseball. The agreement gives Panini considerably more flexibility to build baseball products around prospects and players still working their way through the minor leagues. Prospect-focused trading cards have long given collectors an opportunity to follow players before they establish themselves at the Major League level, and Panini plans to incorporate that part of the hobby across a broader range of its baseball releases.
Panini expects to produce as many as 12 products per year featuring Minor League players alongside collegiate and retired players. Specific configurations, checklists and availability details will be announced closer to the release of each product.
“Having Minor League players within the scope of this agreement creates significant depth across Panini’s baseball portfolio,” Panini America CEO Mark Warsop said. “We look forward to distinguishing each release within our annual product lineup and giving collectors and fans the opportunity to connect the future stars of the sport.”
The agreement is non-exclusive, meaning it does not prevent Minor League players from appearing in trading card products produced by other companies. For Panini, however, it provides access to a much larger pool of active baseball players and creates the opportunity to build releases around prospects at different stages of their professional careers.
MLB Players, Inc. President Evan Kaplan said the agreement is intended to strengthen the connection between baseball fans and players before those players reach the Major Leagues. “We’re proud to partner with Panini on this new initiative,” Kaplan said. “Baseball fans have long connected with their favorite players through trading cards, and this new agreement strengthens and enhances that link by featuring their favorite Minor Leaguers, top prospects and baseball’s stars of tomorrow.”
Panini’s current portfolio includes officially licensed collectibles across a number of sports and entertainment properties, and the new MLB Players, Inc. agreement adds active Minor League players to a baseball lineup that already includes collegiate and retired players.