Prospect Drake Baldwin a "Phone Call Away" From Atlanta Braves Debut

The Atlanta Braves top catching prospect impressed to the point where his MLB debut is almost a guarantee

Catching prospect Drake Baldwin showed the Braves his services can be relied upon in 2025 / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Atlanta Braves catching prospect Drake Baldwin put himself on the Braves Country map last season with a strong Triple-A performance. Seeing him in a Braves uniform in 2025 is now a “when” instead of an “if.” 

The Athletic’s David O’Brien wrote in a piece on Thursday, quoting general manager Alex Anthopoulos, that Baldwin is. “a phone call away at this point.”

To be clear, the Braves No. 5 prospect is still expected to spend the bulk of his time in Triple-A. This isn’t even necessarily a bad thing. It gives him more time to perfect his craft.

However, injuries happen. We saw that last year with both catchers, Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud. Murphy missed all of April due to an oblique injury, and d’Arnaud missed a few games for multiple reasons, such as minor injuries and the paternity list. 

Needing a third catcher is almost inevitable. The odds of both catchers being perfectly healthy for all 162 games is highly unlikely. The chances of Baldwin making his Major League debut sometime in 2025 are pretty good.

Now, of course, Baldwin has to stay healthy too. If he goes down with an injury himself, he can't fill in for the guys ahead of him.

In 72 Triple-A games in 2024, Baldwin batted .298 with an .891 OPS, 12 home runs and 55 RBIs. His on-base percentage was .407. He showed solid plate discipline with a 16.2% strikeout rate. He had nearly as many walks (52) as strikeouts (54).

This performance earned him the honor of being named the Braves Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America. He was the team’s representative in the 2024 All-Star Futures Game back in July when he was still in Double-A Mississippi. 

Alternatives such as Chadwick Thomp, who was the go-to backup catcher last season, are still with the organization. He played in 19 games scattered across April and May. He was called up in September as well, but his services weren’t needed in-game. He hit a career-best .250 with six doubles, six RBIs and a .625 OPS in 54 plate appearances in 2024.

But at this point, Baldwin has leapfrogged Tromp into the No. 3 catcher spot unless he, as mentioned before, is also unavailable.