Drake Baldwin has wasted no time becoming a fixture in Atlanta, and Braves fans have already embraced what he’s brought to the lineup in 2025. The rookie burst in with the kind of impact that made it clear why he was such an early draft pick, and he’s now settled in as one of the team’s most valuable bats. Still, when you start stacking him up against the best catcher seasons in Braves history, the gap is real.
Right now, Baldwin owns the 18th-best OPS by a Braves catcher with at least 400 plate appearances. That’s a strong place to be, and he’s gotten there with some eye-catching hits along the way. But the names at the top of that list set a much higher bar.
Javy Lopez still sits alone at the summit. His 2003 season was a monster: a .328 average, 43 homers, a 1.065 OPS, a 169 OPS+, and 6.8 bWAR. Baldwin has the kind of power that makes you think big home run totals are in play, but getting to Lopez’s level would take a lot going right over a full season.
Brian McCann and Joe Torre are in that conversation too, and both put together multiple seasons with much stronger OPS marks than Baldwin has posted so far. Baldwin has stayed above .800 in each of his first two seasons, which is a solid foundation. McCann’s best year came in 2006, when he hit .333 with 24 home runs, a .961 OPS, 143 OPS+, and 4.3 bWAR.
Torre’s top Braves season came in 1966 with Milwaukee. He finished with a .315 average, 36 homers, a .943 OPS, a 156 OPS+, and 6.4 bWAR.
Baldwin’s overall value has kept him in the mix, though. He put up a 3.4 WAR in his rookie season and has a 2.6 WAR so far in his sophomore campaign, which means he’s not far off the pace in that area compared with some of those standout years. The next step is clear: more production across the board, especially in batting average, OPS, homers, and OPS+.
The encouraging part for Atlanta is that Baldwin still has plenty of runway ahead of him. If he stays healthy and keeps hitting at the rate he has shown, he’ll have a real chance to keep climbing toward the upper tier of Braves catcher history.
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One name that keeps coming up is Patrick Clohisy, whose rise through Double-A and Triple-A has been built on more than just bat-to-ball skill. He has shown the kind of defense and base-running pop that could make him useful even before the hitting fully translates, and the Braves need for more speed on the bases only adds to the appeal of giving him a look sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]