The humble Drake Baldwin is ready for opening-day spotlight for the Braves

As Guttin speaks about Baldwin, who turns 25 years old Friday, he does so with admiration. He touts everything about his former player. His humility. His attitude. His intelligence. His talent. His work ethic. His personality. His genuine nature.

“And it’s all for real,” Guttin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “None of it’s fake.”

Less than three years ago, the Braves drafted Baldwin in the third round out of Missouri State. He then began his ascension up the system, a climb that led him to becoming the organization’s consensus top prospect ahead of this season. And when starting catcher Sean Murphy suffered a cracked rib earlier this spring, an opportunity arose. With his performance, Baldwin made clear to the Braves’ decision-makers that he was ready.

On the final Friday of the spring, bench coach Walt Weiss called Baldwin into manager Brian Snitker’s office. Snitker shared the great news with Baldwin.

“We think that you’re a good spot for the team,” Baldwin recalled Snitker saying. “Congratulations. You’re going to be going with us.”

‘That’s the guy I saw!’

One summer, Joe Lincoln, then the director of operations for Missouri State, went out to a field for batting practice with one of his players. At the time, Lincoln was helping coach a team in Chicago. Lincoln and his player went into the cages and were watching the game on the field beside them when they noticed Baldwin.

“Crap, this guy can hit,” Lincoln thought.

After returning to Missouri State following that trip, Lincoln told the program’s recruiting coordinator, Matt Lawson, about Baldwin. OK, Lawson told Lincoln. But it didn’t go further.

The next summer, Lawson was at a tournament in Nashville and noticed a player.

“Joe, you need to get over here and look at this guy,” Lawson told Lincoln.

“Where’s he from?”

Lawson told Lincoln the player was from the GRB Rays, a travel baseball program in Wisconsin.

“Well, what’s his name?” Lincoln said.

“It’s Drake Baldwin,” Lawson said.

“Drake Baldwin, that’s the guy I saw!” Lincoln told Lawson, referencing the player he saw on that field by the batting cage a year earlier.

Lawson liked Baldwin when he watched him in Nashville. Missouri State began recruiting Baldwin.

At the time, Baldwin was known as a hitter. Guttin recalled some SEC schools recruiting Baldwin, who eventually committed to Missouri State. Guttin said some of the bigger programs might not have wanted to give Baldwin a chance to catch — an opportunity Missouri State assured he would get. Baldwin needed some physical development, but Guttin and his coaching staff were all in on the kid.

From the moment he stepped on campus, Baldwin was a middle-of-the-order bat because of his performance. His catching improved. His throwing became better. In 2022, his junior season, he began driving the ball and getting it in the air more frequently. “He was a sight to see,” Guttin remarked. He started throwing people out more often, too.

“He just kind of jumped on the scene,” Guttin said.

And this is when the Braves felt confident enough to select him in the third round in 2022.

Less than three years later, he’ll be their catcher on opening day in San Diego.

Crazy. Or maybe not. Guttin has a friend who is a Double-A hitting coach who played Baldwin during the catcher’s time in the minors.

His opinion was rather simple.

“This guy’s a big leaguer,” the hitting coach said.

‘There’s no question he’s ready for it’

Missouri State hosted Baldwin and his mother, Bridgette, for an official visit, paid for by the program. Eventually, Drake and Bridgette made the drive from their home in Madison, Wisconsin, to campus in Springfield, Missouri — a trip that takes around eight and a half hours — for a visit on their own dime.

“And I’ll never forget: The department head of our school of business met us at 8 a.m. at the baseball stadium and sat down with them for 45 minutes to an hour because the mother, they were that interested in the education part — which they should be,” Guttin said.

But his point was this: That’s rare.

“I’ve never had a department head come to the baseball stadium before, so that’s the kind of person she was,” the coach added.

Bridgette is a teacher. She cares a lot about education. Drake majored in general business.

This story — small as it may be — is just one example of Baldwin’s upbringing. In talking to him, you can tell he’s humble. In observing him, you notice his teammates love him. A catcher is tasked with building relationships with his pitching staff, and Baldwin seems to have the gravitational personality to excel in this area. The big-league pitchers already are starting to love him.

Is he ready to catch on opening day?

“Oh, there’s no question. There’s no question he’s ready for it,” Sale said. “Either way (with Baldwin or Chadwick Tromp), we’re in a good position no matter who’s back there. Just his attitude, his demeanor, his character — he’s as prepared for this as anybody.”

Before this spring, Spencer Strider had never thrown to Baldwin. Then Baldwin caught Strider’s first live batting practice session in his buildup after elbow surgery. Then Baldwin was behind the plate for Strider’s spring debut.

“Phenomenal catcher. Love throwing to him,” Strider said. “Just really good personality as well. Just thinking off the field, friends with everybody, very communicative, very social. He’s a phenomenal player, obviously. Good swing. But just has the presence of a guy that has experience. When you’re throwing to him, it just feels very confident and comforting, makes the glove look like it’s five miles wide. That’s something that’s hard to teach. I think he’s definitely got a bright future, for sure.”

After Murphy went down, the Braves’ first clue to leaning toward Baldwin was this: He began catching Sale and other big-league starters, again and again and again. He played in 17 Grapefruit League games this spring.

“Obviously, you never want someone to go down, but being able to work with guys like Sale and Reynaldo (López) and (Spencer) Schwellenbach and all those guys for an extended period of time in spring training definitely helped a little bit,” Baldwin said. “Just to get comfortable with them, start to gain a better relationship with them.”

Here’s a pitcher’s perspective from Sale:

“Even just after games, just kind of going back and forth over some pitches, pitch selections, situations, stuff like that. You can tell: He’s not back there kind of just winging it. There’s a method to the madness, there’s a lot of thought behind each pitch and he’s not afraid to get creative, which is nice. He’s not gonna box himself in. It’s a lot of fun for us to have him there.”

Actually, a funny story: After the Braves acquired Sale, Baldwin caught the lefty’s first bullpen session in North Port. Sale doesn’t remember much about it — he joked he’s gone to sleep a few times since then — but it’s clear he likes Baldwin.

“He’s an easy guy to talk to,” Sale said. “He’s a guy that’s easy to be around. He’s always working back there. I’m excited for this.”

‘He’s earned the right to be on this team’

How humble is Baldwin?

Well, let the former college coach tell it in his own way.

“When you get a new player in, particularly a freshman, the first thing on their mind: ‘I gotta get in the lineup, I gotta get on the field,‘” Guttin said. “With Drake, you never felt that. You just felt like he wanted to be a good teammate and he wanted to win. Very, very unselfish.”

As the spring progressed, Guttin heard Baldwin might have a chance to make the opening-day roster. Then someone told him for certain that Baldwin was making it. Then it became official.

During a 42-year tenure as Missouri State’s head coach, 149 of Guttin’s players signed professional contracts. Six were first-round picks. By the time he retired, 21 of his players had made it to the majors. That doesn’t include Baldwin, who debuts on baseball’s special day.

On baseball’s special day, Baldwin will have an experience he’ll never forget.

“He’s earned the right to be on this team and be one of our guys,” Sale said.