When it comes to top prospect lists, everyone has their favorite outlet. One of the best in the business is Baseball America, and they recently updated their top 30 prospect list for the Atlanta Braves, and there is a new top prospect in the system, catcher Drake Baldwin.
Drake Baldwin is now the Braves #1 prospect on Baseball America’s Top 30 list. https://t.co/N14ZlnpTrf
— Matt Chrietzberg (@BravesMattC) September 6, 2024
If you’ve been following this site or many others, you’re probably already pretty familiar with the name.
Drake Baldwin was a third-round pick by the Braves in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Missouri State University. He had a very good season last year as a 22-year-old, recording an .845 OPS across three levels (A+-AAA). This year, Baldwin began in Mississippi and was amid a pretty slow start, recording a pedestrian .650 OPS over 52 games. Still, the Braves opted to promote him to Gwinnett, and with the Stripers, he’s been nothing short of sensational.
Over 60 games, Drake Baldwin is hitting .298 with 10 homers, good for an OPS just south of .900. He features incredible power to all fields and the contact bat is only improving, thanks in large part to elite plate discipline. Since joining the Stripers, Baldwin has walked 47 times and only been struck out 42 times.
This is a young man that needs to be on everyone’s radar. Travis d’Arnaud isn’t going to be around forever, and while Sean Murphy is signed for the foreseeable future, it’s not unreasonable to think Drake Baldwin could carve out a role for himself in Atlanta very soon.
Regardless, Drake Baldwin will be included in the top 100 prospect lists across the board when the rest of them update, a guy other organizations will be asking for a lot in potential trade packages.
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Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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