Playing time is hard to estimate!
Here are some facts for you on Wednesday morning:
- Drake Baldwin has 76 PAs, and has appeared in 25 of the Braves’ 42 games so far.
- Drake Baldwin has 1.0 fWAR.
- While Drake Baldwin is massively outhitting his xwOBA right now, his xwOBA itself is still really good, and his xwOBACON is amazing.
- Drake Baldwin has been really good at framing to date.
After Tuesday night’s game, Baldwin is now tied for the lead among NL rookies with 1.0 fWAR, and the guy he’s tied with, Chad Patrick, only has that much due to a teeny-tiny HR/FB across his 42 1⁄3 innings so far.
Baldwin has clearly performed to a level where you’d be interested in playing him as often as possible to see what he does next… which runs into the actually-good-to-have problem that Sean Murphy is also employed by his team. Further, it’s my understanding that Murphy substantially lobbied to be the team’s primary catcher in 2025, a request that the team de facto granted.
Anyway, put this all together, and the question takes shape. Baldwin is “on pace” for 293 PAs based on the season length to date. On the one hand, that amount is boosted by playing time while Murphy was injured. On the other hand, we can’t assume that Murphy and/or Marcell Ozuna will stay fully healthy all year, so maybe 293 PAs isn’t an awful end-of-season target for Baldwin. So, I’ll leave it to you here.
Daily Notes
Record: 21-21
Yesterday’s wOBA and xwOBA: .376 / .297 (Season rank: 16th | 15th)
Yesterday’s wOBA and xwOBA allowed: .207 / .361 (Season rank: 12th | 13th)
Yesterday’s homers: 1
Yesterday’s homers allowed: 1
Record when out-xwOBAing: 14-9 (League: 461-162)
Record when out-xwOBAed: 7-12 (League: 162-461)
Record when out-wOBAing: 18-2 (League: 529-96)
Record when out-wOBAed: 3-19 (League: 96-529)
Record when outhomering: 9-3 (League: 324-93)
Record when outhomered: 4-12 (League: 93-324)