Drake Baldwin was a rookie a year ago. He is now leading every National League catcher in All-Star voting.
MLB released the Phase 1 standings for the 2026 All-Star Game on Monday, and Baldwin sits in front of the field at his position. The Atlanta Braves catcher has hit his way into national relevance with a stretch that has stayed quiet outside of Braves Country and finally has the voting numbers to back it up.
Freddie Freeman, the former Brave who now leads the Dodgers, is leading first basemen voting. The All-Star Game will be held July 14 on FOX.
Why Baldwin’s Rise Is the Bigger Story
The Braves have spent years rotating catchers behind their All-Star core. Sean Murphy was acquired and then injured. Travis d’Arnaud got older. The position turned into a question mark on a roster that had answers everywhere else. Baldwin solved the problem.
He is hitting over .290 with double-digit home runs into the All-Star break and has caught one of the better pitching staffs in the National League. The defensive metrics have improved every month. Pitchers love throwing to him. The Atlanta clubhouse already considers him a piece of the long-term plan.
That is the trajectory teams dream about when they draft a college catcher. Baldwin spent a year and a half in the minors and came up ready. He took a starting job from a veteran and never gave it back.
The All-Star nod is a strange thing for a player this young. Most catchers do not get one until their third or fourth full season. Baldwin is on track to make his first in his official rookie-plus year. The Braves have been here before with Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies. They know what an early-career All-Star looks like.
The Phase 1 vote is not the final vote. It is the starting list. The leaders move to the next round of voting and the fan-driven process narrows from there. Baldwin will need to hold his lead through July, but the gap he has built is significant.
Atlanta’s offense has been better since he started catching every day. The lineup behind him is healthier than it was a year ago. The Braves are again contending for the NL East with the Phillies and Mets, and Baldwin being a top-five hitter on the roster is part of why.
The NL catcher race is also wide open. Will Smith of the Dodgers had a strong start before slowing. The Phillies have a steady veteran in J.T. Realmuto. None of them is producing the offensive numbers Baldwin is right now.
For the Braves, this is the kind of story they needed. The team has been propped up by superstars for years. Baldwin coming up and turning into a fan favorite gives Atlanta a young anchor for the next contention cycle.
The All-Star Game in Philadelphia is going to look different than people expected. Baldwin should be wearing a National League uniform. The kid the Braves drafted out of Missouri State just turned into the answer they had been searching for behind the plate.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
