Can Drake Baldwin play left field? Time to find out

Braves rookie Drake Baldwin has been about as impressive as possible through the first 42 games of the season. He was thrust into the starting role to begin the year after Sean Murphy suffered a cracked rib during Spring Training, and the early surface level results didn’t tell the entire story.

Baldwin hit just .091 with a .291 OPS through his first six games before Murphy arrived, but the Braves top prospect might have been the most unlucky offensive player in baseball. He was probably ten feet away from beginning the season with 2-3 homers and just as many doubles. However, with the balls beginning to bounce his way more often, he’s hitting an eye-popping .438 with four homers and a 1.241 OPS in his last 19 games. Which is even more remarkable considering he’s only starting a couple of times every week with a couple of pinch-hit appearances sprinkled in.

It’s not unreasonable to say Drake Baldwin is one of the best 5-6 offensive players in the organization already. It’s possible he’s even much higher than that. His .329 batting average and .939 OPS are far and away the best on team, and he already ranks first among all rookies in fWAR, despite starting in just 18 games.

Drake Baldwin has whatever it is, at least offensively. He always puts together quality at-bats, doesn’t strike out much, is willing to take his walks, and has effortless power to all fields. All of which were traits scouts raved about throughout last year, and they are quickly translating to the major-league level.

That’s not to take away anything from Sean Murphy, who has been fantastic in his own right since returning from injury. After a forgetful 2024 campaign, the 30-year-old backstop has responded with an .839 OPS in his first 26 games, while also playing his stellar defense behind the plate. It’s important to point out as well just how dominant the Braves pitching staff has been with Murphy calling games behind the plate. Removing him from his everyday duties really shouldn’t be an option, meaning something has to give.

Enter: the patented left field experiment.

Even with Eli White playing like an All-Star over the last few weeks, and Alex Verdugo adding some juice as well, the Braves outfield has been among the worst in baseball. Michael Harris is due for some positive regression, and Ronald Acuña Jr.’s return appears imminent after beginning his rehab assignment last night. However, the thought of adding Baldwin into the everyday mix is just too tantalizing not to experiment with.

The Braves have tried this with numerous stars over the years. Austin Riley and Chipper Jones both spent some time in left field, and I watched left-handed Freddie Freeman play third base for half a season. Even more so, Jorge Soler and Marcell Ozuna stumbled around the outfield at different points over the last six years.

That’s not to say the experiment with Drake Baldwin will be a success, and perhaps his offense dies down enough that this isn’t even a conversation. But if the Braves could potentially add another .800-900 OPS guy into their lineup everyday alongside Ronald Acuña Jr., they’d be foolish not to at least try.