For the first time since the 2022 season when Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider were seemingly playing hot potato with the award, an Atlanta Braves rookie has received monthly honors from Major League Baseball. MLB has announced their monthly award winners and among their Rookie of the Month honors, Atlanta’s own Drake Baldwin has won NL Rookie of the Month for May.

Drake Baldwin finished the month with a slash line of .389/.411/.593 with a wOBA of .436, three home runs, nine RBI, 21 hits and 181 wRC+ over 56 plate appearances. This was the type of breakout month that was foreshadowed by the fact that he had received some horrible batted ball luck to start the season. It was evident that if Baldwin continued to keep on doing what he was doing at the plate that the production would come and as a result, he turned the old adage on its head in that Baldwin entered May like a lamb but exited like a lion.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the first time that a Braves rookie has won Rookie of the Month since Michael Harris II pulled it off back in September. MLB’s press release noted that Baldwin is now the 12th-different Braves rookie to win Rookie of the Month — a list that includes Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel, Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley. It’s a star-studded list and an indication that Drake Baldwin is the real deal and very likely here to stay. Here’s to more months of magic for Drake Baldwin going forward.