Midway through the season and already people are trying to figure out who's going to be crowned Rookie of the Year at the end of the season. Now, the AL race is looking pretty won at the moment, with Jacob Wilson having a truly great season, let alone rookie season, but the NL is where things get a little funny. Because sometimes, a guy gets crowned rookie of the year on the wings of a fluke season that may be their best MLB achievement. It happened with Kyle Lewis, it happened with Chris Coghlan, and it happened with Bob Hamelin. And while it's so difficult sometimes to pinpoint when someone is good for now rather than good for the long run, sometimes you can tell. Wilson looks like he's just gonna be a .300 guy for a while.
But...I'm sorry, I risk my own already-dwindling credibility in saying this, but I just do not see the appeal of Drake Baldwin. I don't.
Drake Baldwin is 24 years old, made his rookie debut for the Braves on Opening Day of this year, and has continued to baffle me in every game since. Mainly, I cannot tell what purpose Drake Baldwin is supposed to serve. He made the roster as a backup catching option for Sean Murphy, a role he still continues to mostly serve. He's played in 5 more games than Murphy yet has 9 less at-bats. He's hitting .279 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs, figures that have been topped by Murphy's 16 homers and 38 RBIs. He's comparable as a batter to Murphy yet Murphy remains the better defensive catcher by a large margin. He's mostly a contact bat with the occasional power perk, yet his .830 OPS is as high as Matt Olson's. I genuinely do not know what the takeaway from Baldwin is. He's a decent enough hitter statistically but people are acting like he's running the team.
Everything about the season Baldwin is having thus far is screaming 'nothing special' to me, and to that end I lump him in with the rest of the Braves, who are also having a sort of lower-key year. Yet I think Baldwin is seriously leading the ROY conversations right now. I don't understand why the prevailing idea is to reward a season that wouldn't get MVP votes if Bryce Harper or Freddie Freeman came out with it. You want to give it to a rookie that felt like a big story from the year, who helped to change the narrative behind a team or a division. Drake Baldwin's just another Atlanta Brave, and I think he's just gonna amount to a helpful backup option down the line.
Now, with all of that said, we must also discuss Jacob Misiorowski. The Brewers' most lethal pitching prospect, a guy who can stymie the Dodgers and outduel Paul Skenes, and a guy who Topps must be very thankful came up after their cutoff for 2025. The Miz has been dealing like never before, and is 4-1 in his first 5 starts, with a 2.81 ERA and 33 Ks. These deadly June numbers have resulted in an unprecedented All-Star nomination for Misiorowski, which has been met with disdain from several Phillies players who believe that their pitchers should have been given the opportunity, perhaps unaware that when given the opportunity, both Phillies pitchers turned it down because, as discussed, nobody wants to play in the All-Star Game this year.
And look. Ultimately, deep down, I think the Miz deserves this kind of recognition. Did it make more sense when Skenes got it last year, absolutely. But Misiorowski, in 5 games, has not only shown dominance, he's shown it in big-game situations against great teams. He's also been one of the chief factors in the Brewers returning to prominence and becoming a competitor again. The Brewers have tried a lot of rookies this year, including Chad Patrick, Logan Henderson, Craig Yoho and Carlos Rodriguez, and Miz was the one that worked. At least as far as the rotation is concerned- Durbin and Collins both have some interesting rookie stories themselves.
Misiorowski getting an All-Star nod is very hasty, but I get the mentality that made it happen. Now, if he keeps it up, a Rookie of the Year case might also be in order. But we'll see how Drake Baldwin does in the second half, I guess.
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