There’s a special satisfaction in seeing your favorite players receive the national recognition you’ve long believed they deserve. For Atlanta Braves fans, one of their brightest young stars is steadily emerging as a soon-to-be household name on the national stage. Reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin burst onto the scene last season and has shown no signs of a sophomore slump this spring.
Many national outlets are confident that Baldwin can replicate his success in 2026, and The Athletic’s Eno Sarris went even further, suggesting that Baldwin could establish himself as the best catcher in baseball this season. Certainly a strong statement when Cal Raleigh exists, but Sarris' reasoning aligns with what Braves fans have already seen—and invites others to hop aboard the Baldwin hype train.
Drake Baldwin's double in today's eight-run second had a 110.6 mph exit velocity. Baldwin has put 15 balls in play this spring. Eight have had an exit velo of 100-plus mph and all but two have been hit at least 95-plus mph pic.twitter.com/ZJhJ0bhJ4F
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) March 9, 2026
Drake Baldwin earns "best catcher in baseball" potential from Eno Sarris
In his latest piece for The Athletic, Eno Sarris outlined several bold predictions for the 2026 season, including the assertion that Drake Baldwin could supplant Cal Raleigh as the best catcher in baseball—a claim that certainly qualifies as attention-grabbing. Raleigh finished as a close runner-up to Aaron Judge in AL MVP voting last year, and his 9.1 fWAR in 2025 nearly doubled that of the next-closest catcher.
When Eno Sarris explains why he believes Drake Baldwin could ascend to the top of the catching hierarchy, he highlights several factors that Braves fans have emphasized since Baldwin’s arrival. Chief among them is Baldwin’s ability to consistently make hard contact. Over the course of spring training, his 74% hard-hit rate is tied for the best in Major League Baseball—an especially impressive mark for a hitter who also maintains such low whiff rates.
Next, Eno Sarris highlights Drake Baldwin’s advanced plate discipline. He rarely expands the strike zone or chases poor pitches, while still maintaining an aggressive approach on pitches he can drive. Projection systems are equally optimistic. ZiPS forecasts Baldwin to post the fifth-highest fWAR (3.9) among catchers, along with the third-highest wRC+ (124).
The lone flaw in Drake Baldwin’s profile—and one that Eno Sarris readily acknowledges—is his below-average defensive metrics. However, Baldwin’s defense showed steady improvement over the course of last season. Sarris also notes that Cal Raleigh graded out as a below-average defender during his first year in the majors, yet has since developed into one of the premier pitch-framing catchers in the game.
The case for Baldwin’s continued rise is both compelling and grounded in tangible growth. With elite contact quality, advanced plate discipline, and encouraging defensive progress, Baldwin is quickly evolving from a promising young talent into one of the most complete catchers in the game. While questions remain, his trajectory suggests those gaps may close sooner rather than later. If that happens, Eno Sarris’ bold prediction may not seem so bold by season’s end—and Braves fans could be watching the emergence of baseball’s next premier backstop.