Drake Baldwin has been better than you think for the Braves

There haven’t been many encouraging aspects to the start of the Braves 2025 campaign. Atlanta is 0-5, already lost one of their best starting pitchers to the IL, and their single free agent acquisition of the offseason was just suspended for 80 games. However, there have been a few bright spots, and top prospect Drake Baldwin has been one of them, despite recording just one hit in his first four games behind the plate.

Luck is an unfortunate factor that affects nearly every baseball game. It’s the primary reason they play a 162-game regular season. Over a five-game sample size, anybody can look like an All-Star, but over the course of six months, guys who avoid strikeouts and hit the ball hard consistently rise to the top. That’s exactly what Drake Baldwin has done every time he’s stepped into the batter’s box since making his MLB debut on Opening Day.

Drake Baldwin Surface Level Numbers

• .067 Batting Average
• .125 On-Base Percentage
• .067 Slugging Percentage
• .192 OPS
• -45 OPS+ (145% below league average)

That’s brutal, but Baldwin’s advanced metrics suggest he’s ripe for a breakout.

Drake Baldwin Advanced Metrics

• .415 xwOBA
• .674 xSLG
• 92.7 Average Exit Velocity
• 27.3 Barrel %
• 63.6 Hard Hit %
• 14.3 Whiff %

All of those numbers paint the offensive profile of an All-Star, especially for a catcher. Of course, the sample size remains minuscule overall, but to this point, Drake Baldwin is off to an extremely impressive start to his career. If he keeps hitting like he has through four games, he’ll quickly establish himself as one of the best offensive catchers in the game as a rookie and challenge Sean Murphy for playing time when he returns.