{"id":117671,"date":"2026-04-03T00:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=117671"},"modified":"2026-04-03T00:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:00:17","slug":"braves-backstop-drake-baldwin-chasing-down-hank-aaron-franchise-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/04\/03\/braves-backstop-drake-baldwin-chasing-down-hank-aaron-franchise-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves Backstop Chases Down Hank Aaron to Tie Franchise Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Atlanta Braves<\/span><span class=\"s2\"> catcher and reigning National League <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/21\/braves-aj-smith-shawver-drake-baldwin-lead-nl-rookie-of-the-year\/\" target=\"_self\">Rookie of the Year<\/a>\u00a0<a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/baldwdr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-02_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drake Baldwin<\/a>\u00a0has been on fire to begin the season. After putting together a fantastic spring, .349 average and 1.066 OPS, Baldwin\u2019s hot start finds him neck and neck with a legend for a Braves record.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 610px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOB34LAQwzE\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5472px; aspect-ratio: 5472\/3648;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"s3\">Drake Baldwin Planting Seeds of an MVP-Type Season for Braves<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">According to MLB.com\u2019s Mark Bowman and MLB Network\u2019s research team, Baldwin scored a run in each of the first six games played. At press time, Baldwin has scored two runs in Thursday night&#8217;s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.\u00a0 This streak ties <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/08\/hank-aaron-mlb-home-run-record-715\/\" target=\"_self\">Braves Hall of Famer<\/a> <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aaronha01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-02_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hank Aaron<\/a>, who scored seven runs in the first seven games in 1957.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">During that season, Aaron would go on to win the National League MVP Award. Aaron also made his third career All-Star team and proceeded to make 18 straight more, 21 overall, between 1957 and 1975. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Aaron also led Major League Baseball in RBI (132), home runs (44), and total bases (369) in 1957.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">From MLB Network\u2019s research team:<\/p>\n<p>Drake Baldwin has scored a run in each of the Braves\u2019 first six games. The last<br \/>\nBrave with a longer streak to begin a season was back in 1957 when Hall of Famer Hank<br \/>\nAaron scored a run in seven straight!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mlbbowman\/status\/2039779370940928115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Though it&#8217;s early, Baldwin is making a strong case to be in the MVP conversation. Baldwin\u2019s three home runs are the most in the National League (tied for first), his eight runs scored are second, and he is eighth in OPS (1.196). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The last catcher to win the MVP award in the National League was catcher <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/poseybu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-02_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buster Posey<\/a>. With the San Francisco Giants in 2012, Posey led MLB in batting average (.336), OPS (<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/stats\/national-league\/ops\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1.196<\/a>), OPS+ (171), and led the National League in WAR (7.6). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Baldwin\u2019s strong offensive showing and his ability as a catcher \u2014 0 defensive runs saved behind the dish this season \u2014 give him a strong chance to win or be in the conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Can He Do It?<\/h2>\n<p>To take down <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/ohtansh01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-02_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shohei Ohtani<\/a>, who is looking to win his fourth straight (third straight in the National League) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, <span>Baldwin will have to put together a season like Seattle Mariners catcher <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/raleica01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-02_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cal Raleigh<\/a> did in 2025. Raleigh lost the award to the New York Yankees outfielder <a  target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/judgeaa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-04-02_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Judge<\/a>, despite leading MLB in home runs (60, most by a catcher) and the American League in RBI (125).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Braves catcher and reigning National League Rookie of the Year\u00a0Drake Baldwin\u00a0has been on fire to begin the season. After putting together a fantastic spring, .349 average and 1.066 OPS, Baldwin\u2019s hot start finds him neck and neck with a legend for a Braves record. Drake Baldwin Planting Seeds of an MVP-Type Season for Braves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5794,"featured_media":96485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,35],"tags":[501,115,2060,28943,2252,2178],"class_list":["post-117671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-news","tag-aaron-judge","tag-buster-posey","tag-cal-raleigh","tag-drake-baldwin","tag-hank-aaron","tag-shohei-ohtani"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117671"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117741,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117671\/revisions\/117741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}