Atlanta Braves rookie catcher Drake Badwin may have begun the 2025 season platooning behind the plate, but he will finish it as one of the frontrunners for National League Rookie of the Year. Baldwin came into Monday night’s game against the Washington Nationals batting .273 with 18 home runs, 76 RBI, 52 runs scored, and a .799 OPS.
Even though the Braves will end the season out of the National League postseason picture and under .500, Baldwin’s offensive input and defense behind the dish have been important, whatever success the club has had this season.
Over the past 30 games coming into Monday night, Baldwin’s numbers were down (.245 from the plate with 11 strikeouts), but he has picked them up of late. During the past seven games, all Braves victories, Baldwin is hitting .348 with a .738 slugging percentage, two home runs, and eight runs batted in. His only true competition for the award is a young starter on the Northside of Chicago.
The Chicago Cubs’ starting pitcher, Cade Horton, has been lighting up National League hitters this season. Horton is currently 11-4 with a 2.66 ERA, 95 strikeouts, and has only given up 33 walks in 115 innings.
Against the Braves this season, Horton is 1-0 in two starts. During those games, he had an ERA of 0.79 in 11 innings of work and struck out eight Braves while only giving up one earned run.
It wouldn’t be an upset if Horton won the award, but Baldwin has made a solid case this season. The Braves finishing under .500 could be why Baldwin doesn’t come away with it. The Cubs (88-68 overall) are currently atop the National League wild card standings. That makes Horton’s 11 victories this season that much more important.
On Monday night, with the bases loaded and the Braves ahead 2-1, Baldwin, batting in the sixth slot in the lineup, hit a two-RBI single off Nationals pitcher Jackson Rutledge to extend the Braves’ lead to 3-1. The two runs left Baldwin with the third most runs batted in on the team behind Matt Olson (93) and Michael Harris (80).
Baldwin hit a double in the fourth inning, his 17th of the season. That hit started a rally that ended with Atlanta scoring another run on Harris’s third RBI of the game.
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