Drake Baldwin

Drake Randall Baldwin

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 210 lb.
• School Missouri State University
• High School Madison West High School
• Debut March 27, 2025

• Born March 28, 2001 in Milwaukee, WI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Drake Baldwin has played as high as AAA and has been on Team USA.

Baldwin was not only one of the top baseball prospects in Wisconsin high schools but also led the state's hockey players with 43 goals. He hit .295/.377/.426 as a college freshman at Missouri State University, then improved to .291/.411/.446 as a sophomore. His junior year, he hit .341/.448/.647 with 19 homers and 70 RBI in 60 games. He was first in the Missouri Valley Conference in RBI, second to Dakota Kotowski in homers and third in slugging and OBP. He set the school record for career fielding percentage, .994.

The Atlanta Braves chose him in the third round of the 2022 amateur draft, the 96th pick overall, and he signed for a $633,300 bonus. He split the summer between the FCL Braves (3 for 8, 2 2B, BB) and the Augusta GreenJackets (.247/.396/.284, 18 BB in 21 G). In '23, he played for the Rome Braves (.260/.385/.466 in 92 G), Mississippi Braves (.321/.390/.396 in 14 G) and Gwinnett Stripers (4 for 12, HR). Among Braves farmhands, he was third in doubles (26, behind Vaughn Grissom and Braden Shewmake), tied Shewmake and Cade Bunnell for 6th in HR (16), tied Grissom for 8th in RBI and was 6th in walks (67). He was named the South Atlantic League All-Star catcher.

The Wisconsin native made the NL team for the 2024 Futures Game. Starting at DH, he grounded out against Caden Dana then hit a sac fly off A.J. Blubaugh and homered off Fernando Perez. He spent most of the year with Gwinnett (.298/.407/.484 in 72 G) and also played 52 for Mississippi (.244/.313/.337). For the season, he had 16 homers, 88 RBI and 72 walks. He easily led Atlanta's minor leaguers in RBI (25 ahead of #2 Ethan Workinger) and he tied Andrew Velazquez for the most circuit clouts. He also had the most walks, six ahead of Nacho Alvarez Jr. That earned him a spot on the US team for the 2024 Premier 12. In their opener, he hit 8th, starting at catcher against the Netherlands. He struck out against Kaj Timmermans his first time up.

Baldwin went to spring training with the Braves in 2025 and made the team as their primary catcher following an injury to Sean Murphy. He made his major league debut on Opening Day, March 27th, going 0 for 3 with a walk in a 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres. He remained with the team when Murphy returned to action and on May 8th had the first walk-off hit of his career when he hit a run-scoring single in the 11th inning against the Cincinnati Reds, giving Atlanta a 5-4 win. He actually had a chance to end the game in the 9th inning, when he entered the game as a pinch-hitter with the score tied and Michael Harris on third base, but he had struck out to end the inning. He was the National League Rookie of the Month in May when he hit .389 with an OPS of 1.004 for the month. Overall, he hit .274 in 124 games, with 19 homers and 80 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 126. He was the winner of the National League Rookie of the Year Award and was named a member of the 2025 MLB All-Rookie Team.

Notable Achievements

• 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Award
• 2025 MLB All-Rookie Team

NL Rookie of the Year
2024	2025	2026
Paul Skenes	Drake Baldwin	tbd

Further Reading

• Mark Bowman: "Top prospect Baldwin gets vote of confidence from Sale", mlb.com, March 4, 2025. [1]
• Mark Bowman: "Top prospect Baldwin on Braves' Opening Day roster: 'No question he's ready for it'", mlb.com, March 21, 2025. [2]
• Mark Bowman: "Sensational rookie helps Braves go from 0-7 to .500 in near-record time", mlb.com, May13, 2025. [3]
• Mark Bowman: "Baldwin becomes 10th backstop to nab Rookie of the Year", mlb.com, November 10, 2025. [4]
• Rick Farlow: "Baldwin's first career walk-off for Braves 'something you dream about'", mlb.com, May 8, 2025. [5]

Related Sites

• Drake Baldwin on mlb.com
• BR Register page
• Missouri State bio