Whenever a team puts up nine runs in the ninth inning, there are going to be a lot of heroes one can point to. With the Atlanta Braves' sudden rout of the Marlins on Tuesday night, Ozzie Albies, Vidal Brujan, and Eli White (among others) all came up big when the Braves needed them to. However, the game started to get blown wide open when a familiar face, catcher Drake Baldwin, roped a two-run single to make it a 5-2 game.
Taking a step back for a second, Baldwin has been coming up huge for Atlanta all season long. Not only is he one of the frontrunners for NL Rookie of the Year, but all of his underlying metrics suggest that his production this season is very real and could actually go higher as he gets more playing time under his belt. Combine that with the ability to manage a pitching staff effectively despite his inexperience and you already have a tremendous asset on your roster.
As it turns out though, Baldwin also has a knack for coming through in the ninth inning and we aren't just talking about that one hit against the Marlins.
Drake Baldwin's clutch performances in the ninth inning are starting to add up, but there is a catch
Baseball seasons are littered with ninth inning comebacks and clutch performances from all manner of players. If Baldwin's performance against Miami was an outlier, it wouldn't merit much attention. However, The Braves rookie seems to love to hit in the ninth inning and has since Baldwin got the call to the big leagues out of spring training.
In an admittedly small 37 plate appearance sample in 2025, Baldwin has posted an .840 OPS and has driven in nine runs. He has also been really good with two outs and runners in scoring position (an Achilles' heel for the rest of Atlanta's roster) with a .300/.364/.475 line in 44 such situations. So the Braves have their next great clutch hitter, right? Well, maybe...but hang on a second.
The entire picture of Baldwin's profile in tight situations isn't quite as rosy. In late and close situations this year (not just the ninth inning), Baldwin's OPS drops to an anemic .491. In tie games, his .266/.333/.342 line is fine, but not overly exciting. In 40 appearances in the eighth inning of games this season, Baldwin performs the worst of any of his others innings with a dreadful .405 OPS. Very weird stuff.
What we are probably seeing here is some classic weirdness in small samples. A couple of hard hit balls in high leverage situations that don't find gloves would make his numbers look a lot better and if a few grounders didn't get through, they would be markedly worse. We do know is that Baldwin consistently hits the ball hard and does not seem to get caught up in the moment at the plate. If he can just keep doing what he is doing, Atlanta is going to be thrilled that he is coming to the plate regardless of the scenario.