Baldwin MLB Profile | Players Choice Awards

NEW YORK – Former Missouri State catcher Drake Baldwin was voted by his fellow players as the National League Outstanding Rookie in 2025, it was announced Wednesday. Baldwin's standout rookie season with the Atlanta Braves was recognized by his peers in a poll of active Major League Baseball Players Association members through the Players Choice Awards program, which began in 1992.
 
Baldwin made his MLB debut in 2025 as Atlanta's opening-day starter behind the plate, and appeared in 124 games with the Braves, batting .274 with 19 home runs and 80 RBIs as a rookie.
 
 

Among NL rookies with a minimum of 100 games played, he ranked first in RBIs (80), batting average (.274), OPS (.810) and slugging percentage (.469), and ranked second in home runs (19) and total bases (190). He was one of only seven rookie catchers since 1947 to reach 35 extra base hits and 78 RBIs, and the first to do so since Geovany Soto in 2008. 
 
The Madison, Wis., native was drafted by Atlanta in the third round (96th overall) of the 2022 MLB Draft, becoming the highest-drafted catcher in MSU history.
 
Baldwin's draft year at MSU was one for the record books as he hit .341 with 19 home runs and 70 RBIs, which tied for seventh on the Bears' single-season record list. He reached safely in 57 of 60 contests that season and had a .448 on-base percentage for an NCAA Regional club. For his MoState career, Baldwin was a .317 career hitter with 24 home runs, 104 RBIs and 51 extra-base hits in 120 games, and his .994 career fielding percentage ranks second in Missouri State history.