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

• Born March 28, 2001 in Milwaukee, WI USA (listed as Madison, WI by B-R, but Milwaukee by his Missouri State bio)

BR Register 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, 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.