{"id":116562,"date":"2025-11-04T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=116562"},"modified":"2025-11-04T09:38:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:38:00","slug":"%e2%9a%be-rising-star-alert-braves-catcher-drake-baldwin-named-nl-rookie-of-the-year-finalist-from-underdog-to-headline-maker-atlanta-may-have-just-found-its-next-franchise-cornerstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=116562","title":{"rendered":"\u26be RISING STAR ALERT: Braves catcher Drake Baldwin named NL Rookie of the Year finalist! From underdog to headline-maker \u2014 Atlanta may have just found its next franchise cornerstone"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<section>Braves catcher Drake Baldwin has been named a finalist for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_4097,h_2304,x_0,y_0\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/braves_today\/01k969a5sc05nch5c5qm.jpg\" alt=\"Braves Drake Baldwin Named Rookie of the Year Finalist\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old had a breakout season behind the dish for the Braves.<\/p>\n<p>He was thrown into the fire after Sean Murphy began the season on the injured list and hit .274 with 19 home runs, the second-most by a rookie catcher in franchise history.<\/p>\n<p>Once Murphy came back from the injured list, Baldwin split time with Murphy behind the dish, playing 97 games at catcher.<\/p>\n<p>He allowed 88 stolen bases, the most in the NL.<\/p>\n<p>Baldwin led all NL rookies in WAR and his .810 OPS was eighth-best among NL rookies and the best among rookies who played more than 100 games.<\/p>\n<p>He was named the NL Rookie of the Month in May with a 1.003 OPS over 56 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s the first Brave nominated for the award since both Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider were nominated in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Harris won the award.<\/p>\n<p>Cubs pitcher Cade Horton and Brewers third baseman Caleb Durbin were also named finalists for this year\u2019s award.<\/p>\n<p>The winner will be revealed on Nov. 10.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 24-year-old had a breakout season behind the dish for the Braves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":116566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1054,406,405,1036,1037,4425,4427,4426,4429,4428,404],"class_list":["post-116562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-anf","tag-atlanta-news","tag-atlanta-news-first","tag-drake-baldwin","tag-drake-baldwin-braves","tag-drake-baldwin-rookie-of-the-year","tag-drake-baldwin-rookie-of-the-year-finalist","tag-nl-rookie-of-the-year","tag-nl-rookie-of-the-year-finalists","tag-rookie-of-the-year-finalists","tag-wanf"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u26be RISING STAR ALERT: Braves catcher Drake Baldwin named NL Rookie of the Year finalist! From underdog to headline-maker \u2014 Atlanta may have just found its next franchise cornerstone - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=116562\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u26be RISING STAR ALERT: Braves catcher Drake Baldwin named NL Rookie of the Year finalist! 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