The day after Hurston Waldrep made his first rehab stint, we now have news that Waldrep will have a partner joining him on his rehab journey. They won’t be in the same level but it’s still truly a sight for sore eyes to see this particular guy getting back into action.
The Gwinnett Stripers have announced that catcher Drake Baldwin will be doing a rehab stint at the Triple-A level. He’ll be back in action starting on Saturday as the Stripers take on the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp this weekend.
Here’s more from the Stripers on the press release:
The Gwinnett Stripers, in conjunction with the Atlanta Braves, have announced that catcher Drake Baldwin will join the Stripers on an injury rehab assignment on Saturday, June 13. Baldwin, on the Braves’ 10-day Injured List since May 19 (strained right oblique muscle), is scheduled to play in Gwinnett’s 6:35 p.m. game against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp at VyStar Ballpark.
The 25-year-old Baldwin played in 48 games with the Braves prior to the injury, batting .303 (57-for-188) with six doubles, 13 home runs, 38 RBIs, and a .932 OPS. Including his 2025 National League Rookie of the Year campaign, he is hitting .283 (168-for-593) with 24 doubles, two triples, 32 homers, 118 RBIs, and an .848 OPS across 172 career games with Atlanta.
Baldwin’s rehab assignment marks his return to Gwinnett. The Madison, Wisconsin native played for the Stripers from 2023-24, batting .300 (86-for-287) with 13 doubles, one triple, 13 homers, 57 RBIs, and an .893 OPS in 75 games.
While the Braves (and Walt Weiss in particular) were initially hopeful that Baldwin could just eschew the rehab stint and jump right back into action at the big league level, it appears that the Braves have decided that it would be better for everybody involved if Baldwin did indeed take that rehab stint. The target arrival for Baldwin was initially this next week’s homestand so we’ll see if this’ll be a quick rehab stint or if they’ll let him cook a bit longer with the Stripers before bringing him back into action with the Braves.
Either way, the Braves can now start thinking about having their star catcher back at some point in the near future. With all due respect to both Sandy León and Austin Wynns (along with Chadwick Tromp’s contributions while he was here), Baldwin’s bat is sorely missed in the catcher’s spot of the lineup and he’ll also provide a very valuable DH bat as well. Hopefully this rehab stint goes smoothly and we see Baldwin back in the Atlanta lineup sooner rather than later.
