How a Braves rookie is leading Atlanta's historic turnaround

The Atlanta Braves entered the 2025 season with World Series aspirations, so it caught many people off guard when they went winless in the first week of the season.

Considering that no team in Major League Baseball history has made the playoffs after losing their first seven games, it seemed like Atlanta’s season was over before it even began. 

Despite starting behind the eight ball, it only took until the middle of May for the Braves to completely revive their season, and the catalyst of Atlanta’s impressive turnaround has been a 24-year-old catcher.

Drake Baldwin only has 18 starts under his belt, but he’s been hitting like a seasoned veteran in his rookie season. A revelation for Atlanta, Baldwin leads the Braves in batting average (.329), slugging percentage (.557) and OPS (.939).

Baldwin wasn’t expected to get called up to the big leagues this early, but a spring training injury to Sean Murphy forced the Braves’ top prospect to make his MLB debut on opening day.

Baldwin struggled during Atlanta’s seven-game losing streak at the start of the season, as expected of a young player thrust into the spotlight prematurely, but has quickly found his footing, hitting .423 with a 1.195 OPS in the 56 plate appearances since that turbulent first week.

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In his most recent outing, Baldwin helped the Braves get to .500 with his first three-hit game in a 5-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Sitting at 21-21 going into Wednesday, the Braves are just the fifth team in MLB history to go from 0-7 to a .500 record and the fastest to do so since the 1945 Boston Red Sox, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The Braves have pulled themselves off the mat in unprecedented time, and their rookie catcher has been at the heart of this resurgence.

With Ronald Acuña Jr. starting his rehab assignment and already back to mashing, the Braves are once again a force to be reckoned with in the National League, which would have seemed like an outlandish statement just a month ago.

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