Sunday Notes: Braves Prospect Drake Baldwin Opted For Diamonds Over Ice

Drake Baldwin is one in every of baseball’s most-promising prospects. A 3rd-round choose in 2022 out of Missouri State College, the 23-year-old catcher within the Atlanta Braves group is No. 11 on our Prime 100. His left-handed stroke is a giant purpose why. Flashing plus energy, Baldwin bashed 16 dwelling runs final season whereas logging a 119 wRC+ between Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett.

He might have pursued a profession in one other sport. All-State in hockey as a Wisconsin prep, the sturdily-built Madison West Excessive College product potted 43 objectives as a junior, then discovered the again of the web 46 occasions as a senior.

Why did he select the diamond, and never the ice?

“Hockey recruiting is somewhat later, so I didn’t truly discuss to many schools,” Baldwin mentioned of his determination. “I feel I had an opportunity, and the [junior hockey] route was attention-grabbing too, however having the ability to go proper from highschool to varsity and begin engaged on a level was a extra simple path to the place I needed to be. I imply, I really like each sports activities. I want I might play each of them. Baseball simply got here first.”

At present one class in need of incomes a enterprise diploma from Missouri State, Baldwin performed heart on his highschool staff and left wing in match hockey. Requested if he was ever comped to an NHL participant, he claimed to be unaware of that occuring. He did provide his personal, albeit largely for enjoyable.

“I’ll say Auston Matthews as a result of he scores,” mentioned Baldwin, naming the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrity who has led the NHL in objectives in a number of seasons. “Nobody else mentioned that, however I appreciated scoring.”

Not surprisingly, Baldwin additionally enjoys hitting dwelling runs.

“I’d like to be thought of [a power hitter],” mentioned Baldwin. “I wish to be an all-around hitter, however each time I get a mistake, I would like to have the ability to do harm on it. Competing within the field and having the ability to use the entire discipline is sort of my method, however hitting dwelling runs is enjoyable. The aim is to hit the ball as laborious as you possibly can, as a lot as you possibly can.”

Baldwin has come to the plate 12 occasions this spring and is 4-for-9 with a double and three walks.

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Gee Walker went 14 for 27 in opposition to Basic Crowder.

Dixie Walker went 15 for 33 in opposition to Elmer Riddle.

Walker Cooper went 16 for 34 in opposition to Schoolboy Rowe.

Harry “The Hat” Walker went 17 for 47 in opposition to Ralph Branca.

Gavvy Cravath went 2 for six in opposition to Mysterious Walker.

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After I first interviewed him in 2019, Walker Buehler was a younger flamethrower halfway by a season that noticed him end 14-4 with a 3.26 ERA and a 3.01 ERA. Within the yr following 2020’s truncated COVID marketing campaign, he went 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA and a 3.16 ERA. As my colleague Dan Szymborski would later write, “Buehler grew to become The Man within the [Dodgers] rotation.”

The 30-year-old right-hander is not in Los Angeles, neither is he the identical pitcher he as soon as was. Now with Boston after inking a free-agent deal in December, he’s seen accidents and the passage of time take their toll. Buehler had Tommy John surgical procedure in 2022 — he’d beforehand gone beneath the knife in 2015 — and final season he was out for an prolonged interval resulting from a hip ailment. Like all pitchers, he’s needed to adapt as he ages.

“As you become older, issues change,” Buehler informed me in Crimson Sox camp. “My stuff isn’t fairly what it was in 2019, however you mature and be taught different methods to get guys out. You develop different pitches. The sweeper is one thing that’s sort of come into the sport, and into mine, I additionally throw much more cutters now. Again then it was a whole lot of four-seam fastballs. So, issues have advanced, as they do for each man.”

A less-explosive four-seamer is a purpose Buehler has needed to regulate his method (Jake Mailhot addressed the providing’s downturn, and why it could not matter as a lot together with his new staff, again in January).

“The final form is similar, it’s simply not fairly as massive, fairly as jumpy,” acknowledged Buehler. “That makes me combine and match somewhat extra to set it up. I can’t fairly depend on it three, 4, 5 occasions in a row like I might at one level. I must pitch somewhat bit, versus simply attempting to throw it by everybody. There’s nonetheless some velo in there, however I must put myself in spots with extra margin for error.”

Which isn’t to say he not considers himself an influence pitcher.

“I nonetheless do,” mentioned Buehler, whose heater remained a still-firm 95 mph in 2024. “I feel a whole lot of the throws I make are energy throws. It’s simply that you must evolve somewhat bit. Guys don’t throw 100 ceaselessly.”

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Seby Zavala has caught in 183 big-league video games, the majority of them with the Chicago White Sox. He has additionally squatted behind the dish with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Seattle Mariners. Who among the many pitchers he’s labored with most stands out for the individuality of a selected providing?

“[Bryan] Woo, with the Mariners,” mentioned Zavala, who was in Seattle final season and is at the moment in camp with the Crimson Sox. “He’s sort of like [Michael] Kopech. Kopech was the primary time I noticed somebody who might simply throw fastballs proper down the center, and even when hitters knew it was coming, they’d nonetheless swing and miss. Woo was doing that. Seeing Woo’s fastball up shut and private could be very attention-grabbing.

“The method angle, the induced vertical, the best way his arm works,” continued Zavala. “He’s tremendous easy in his movement — the ball comes out very nice — after which it simply jumps. To me it appears straight as an arrow, however you then’ve bought to attempt to hit it. I do know it’s coming, so it’s somewhat simpler. Catching is so much simpler than hitting.”

Kopech’s down-the-middle heaters obtain comparable outcomes, albeit in a dissimilar method.

“Kopech threw more durable,” defined Zavala. “His is totally different, however they’re each unicorn fastballs. They’re pitches that almost all guys couldn’t replicate. Kopech’s additionally had extra horizontal motion. It seemed prefer it was rising and going up-and-in to a righty. It was arm-side and would simply take off like a airplane. It’s sort of laborious to elucidate, and undoubtedly one thing laborious to hit.”

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A quiz:

Rogers Hornsby is one in every of three second basemen to play the vast majority of their video games at that place and hit greater than 300 dwelling runs. Who’re the opposite two?

The reply may be discovered beneath.

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NEWS NOTES

The Triple-A Iowa Cubs have employed Jason Kempf as their new radio play-by-play broadcaster. A veteran of 10 minor-league seasons behind the mic, the College of Wisconsin-Oshkosh grad spent the final 4 seasons calling video games for the Carolina League’s Charleston RiverDogs.

Eddie Fisher, who pitched for six groups from 1959-1973, died on February 17 at age 88. The proper-hander’s finest season got here with the Chicago White Sox in 1965 when he led the junior circuit with 82 appearances and went 15-7 with 24 saves and a 2.40 ERA. All informed, he took the mound 690 occasions and was credited with 85 wins and 82 saves.

Bobby Malkmus, an infielder who performed for 3 groups throughout the 1957-1962 seasons, died on February 23 at age 93. The primary of the Newark native’s eight big-league dwelling runs, which he hit in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform, was a grand slam off of “Toothpick Sam” Jones.

Rob Fitts, Gary Gillette, and Richard Malatzky have been introduced because the 2025 recipients of SABR’s Henry Chadwick Award, which honors the sport’s nice researchers. Extra data may be discovered right here.

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The reply to the quiz is Jeff Kent (377 dwelling runs) and Robinson Canó (335).

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Final Sunday’s column included Bubba Chandler speaking about going through his pal and fellow-high-ranking prospect Roman Anthony. In the present day we’ll hear from Anthony — No. 2 on our Prime 100 — on going through Chandler (No. 23).

“Bubba’s superior,” mentioned Anthony. “He’s bought electrical stuff. He’s succeeded at each stage, and I feel he’s going to assist [the Pittsburgh Pirates] very quickly. You’re keen on competing in opposition to the perfect, so it’s at all times enjoyable to face that man.”

Chandler surrendered the Crimson Sox prospect’s first Excessive-Successful final season. Listening to that the right-hander had shared that reality with me introduced a smile to his face.

“He was,” acknowledged Anthony. “I bought known as up and he was the primary man I confronted. It was sort of, ‘OK, right here we go.’ I hit a double up the hole — it was on a heater if I’m remembering proper — however he bought me too. Every thing he throws is sweet. We’ve had our fair proportion of battles.”

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Charles McAdoo will battle to ascertain himself within the Blue Jays system this season. Acquired by Toronto from the Pittsburgh Pirates in trade for Isiah Kiner-Falefa finally summer season’s commerce deadline, the 22-year-old third baseman scuffled to the tune of a 79 wRC+ with Double-A New Hampshire after altering organizations. His general numbers have been extra pleasing. On the yr, McAdoo slashed .279/.364/.479 with 17 dwelling runs and a 138 wRC+ over an almost an identical variety of at-bats between Excessive-A and Double-A.

His present focus is on bettering his swing selections. The 2023, thirteenth spherical pick of San Jose State College is glad together with his right-handed stroke — bat velocity and uncooked energy are amongst his attributes — however he feels that he must refine his zone. As he put it, “The smaller it’s, the extra harm I can do.”

That he could be doing harm in skilled baseball was by no means a given. A two-sport standout at Harmony, California’s De La Salle Academy, McAdoo wasn’t extremely recruited out of highschool, nor was he the apple of evaluators’ eyes popping out of faculty.

“I undoubtedly flew beneath the radar,” McAdoo informed me previous to a current spring coaching recreation. “I used to be drafted in a later spherical, and [prior to that] was actually solely scouted by one college. It was laborious for me to do journey ball, as a result of I used to be enjoying soccer. I used to be a receiver and performed protection. Not [one position], however all-over protection.”

Basketball can also be part of his background. Whereas his personal expertise on the hardwood is proscribed, NBA Corridor of Famer Bob McAdoo is a cousin, as is erstwhile Golden State Warrior James Michael McAdoo.

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A random obscure former participant snapshot:

Dae-Sung Koo completed his transient big-league profession with .500 batting common, and his lone hit got here in opposition to a Corridor of Famer. A left-hander who tossed 23 aid innings for the New York Mets in 2005, the native of Daejeon, South Korea doubled off of Randy Johnson in a 7-1 win over the Yankees. In his one earlier plate look, he’d fanned in opposition to Cincinnati’s Todd Coffey with out bothering to take the bat off his shoulder.

His MLB ledger on the mound included no wins or saves, however his general document consists of loads of each. Dae-Sung performed professionally from 1993-2023 — he threw his final pitch at age 52 — toeing the rubber within the KBO, NPB, and ABL. All informed, he appeared in 804 video games, logging 94 wins and 259 saves.

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe revealed to reporters that he tore the meniscus in his proper knee final season whereas enjoying Hacky Sack with teammates. Adam McCalvy has the story at MLB.com.

The Baltimore Banner’s Danielle Allentuck wrote about how Orioles right-hander Zach Eflin bridges the hole between old- and new-school approaches.

Three Minnesota Twins gamers narrowly prevented a severe automobile crash close to the staff’s spring coaching facility. MLB.com’s Matthew Leach has the story.

Derek Bender was accused of making a gift of his staff’s pitches whereas catching for the Twins’ Low-A affiliate final summer season, and was subsequently launched by the group. Sam Blum talked to him for The Athletic (subscription required).

Additionally at The Athletic, Tyler Kepner wrote about how three stealth relievers typify MLB’s dominant species: the unknown man who no one can hit. (subscription required.)

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Houston Astros reliever Tayler Scott allowed 23 hits and had a .189 BAA versus right-handed hitters final yr. He allowed 22 hits and had a .188 BAA versus left-handed hitters.

Don Mattingly had 2,153 hits, 442 doubles, 222 dwelling runs, and a 124 wRC+.Adrian González had 2,050 hits, 437 doubles, 317 dwelling runs, and a 127 wRC+.

Johnny Grubb slashed .370/.464/.609 in 279 profession plate appearances in opposition to the Boston Crimson Sox. He slashed .151/.245/.285 in 200 plate appearances in opposition to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Warren Spahn threw 15 or extra innings in a recreation thrice and was tagged with the loss in every of these outings. The ultimate scores have been 3-1, 2-1, and 1-0.

On at this time’s date in 1927, the New York Yankees introduced that Babe Ruth’s wage for every of the following three seasons could be $70,000, making him the highest-paid participant in MLB historical past.

The Baltimore Orioles signed Ed Farmer as a free agent on at this time’s date in 1977.Later a better and broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox, Farmer pitched to only two batters whereas sporting an Orioles uniform. Going through the Detroit Tigers, Farmer allowed a single to Lance Parrish, then issued a bases-loaded stroll to Ben Oglivie.

Gamers born on at this time’s date embody Pete Broberg, a hard-throwing right-hander who was drafted by the Washington Senators in 1971, then proceeded to make his MLB debut 12 days later with out throwing a pitch within the minor leagues. All informed, the Dartmouth Faculty product went 41-71 with a 4.56 ERA over 963 innings earlier than leaving the sport to attend legislation college previous to the 1979 season.

Additionally born on at this time’s date was Moe Berg, who noticed motion within the massive leagues from 1923-1939 however is healthier identified for being an agent for the OSS throughout World Warfare II. Berg’s biography, The Catcher Was a Spy, chronicles his fascinating life and profession.

In 1891, Tom Brown performed in 137 video games for the American Affiliation’s Boston Reds and led the circuit in hits (189), triples (21), stolen bases (106) and runs scored (177). The Liverpool, England-born outfielder’s runs-scored whole is second-highest in historical past, behind solely Billy Hamilton. “Sliding Billy” crossed the plate 198 occasions with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1884.

Groups within the 1918 Class-D Blue Ridge League included the Cumberland Colts and the Piedmont-Westernport Drybugs.