MLB Pipeline Releases 2025 Braves Top 30

A great 2024 has catapulted Drake Baldwin to the top of the list

MLB Pipeline announced their pre-season refreshed top 30 prospect list for the Atlanta Braves yesterday and it’s no surprise as to who tops the list. After being named the #5 prospect during their midseason refresh, Drake Baldwin has found himself at the top of the list thanks to an extremely strong 2024 season.

After being promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett, Drake hit his stride slashing .298/.407/.484 in 72 games. He then found himself the talk of the town after his extremely strong AFL stint where he slashed .377/.452/.491 which, combined with that strong run of games for Gwinnett, helped propel Drake well into the Top 100s of most major publications, including #11 overall for Fangraphs.

Fast forward to today, and following the news of Sean Murphy’s cracked ribs, Drake now has the possibility of being named the starting catcher for the big league team – an incredibly fast rise.

Some trends outside of Drake that stick out:

• Drue Hackenberg, who played across three leagues (A+, AA, AAA), and compiled 3.63 ERA, 10 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 rate across the three moved from 9 to 6
• Garrett Baumann who had a 3.19 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 rate jumped from 18th to 9th overall.
• Lucas Braun jumped from 21st to 11th overall after a strong 2024 and especially strong stint at AA (2.38 ERA, 10 K/9. 2.9 BB/9)
• Right behind Braun was Didier Fuentes who jumped from 20th to 12th overall.
• John Gil’s loud tools had him move from not ranked all the way up to 14th overall.
• International free agents Diego Tornes, and Raudy Reyes debuted at 17th and 27th respectively.
• Elison Joseph and the newly signed Carlos D. Rodriguez cracked the top 30 themselves (29, 30th).
• Rolddy Munoz and his electric fastball jumped to 22 overall.