Atlanta Braves select Missouri State's Drake Baldwin in 3rd round in 2022 MLB Draft

Missouri State's Drake Baldwin joined the long list of Bears to be selected in the MLB Draft when he was taken with the 96th overall pick in the third round by the Atlanta Braves on Monday afternoon.

Baldwin is coming off a breakout junior year as the Bears' catcher and will likely be the 151st MSU player to play professionally. He's the highest Bear to be selected since Jeremy Eierman was taken by the Oakland Athletics in the second round with the 70th overall pick in 2018.

The approximate pick value for the 96th overall selection is $635,500, according to MLB.com.

At 6-foot-1, 225-pounds, Baldwin showcased his elite hitting skills during the 2022 season. He batted .341 in 2022 with 19 home runs and 70 RBI. His batting average increased from .291 in 2021 while hitting four homers.

Behind the plate, Baldwin had a .993 fielding percentage with 34 assists.

More: Keith Guttin never watched Drake Baldwin before signing him. Now he's MSU's next MLB prospect

The Madison, Wisconsin, native helped lead the Bears through a thrilling last few weeks of the 2022 season. The team entered the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament one game below .500 before winning five of its next six games and winning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.

"Being able to turn this program into what it was before has meant a lot," Baldwin said after the Bears were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. "These last few weeks, we've shown that. We've bonded together and have gone out and done some special things. Doing it with this group of guys has been awesome."

In the NCAA Tournament, Baldwin was 6-of-14 with three home runs, 10 RBI and six runs scored in two games combined against Oklahoma State and one against Grand Canyon.

Bears head coach Keith Guttin, who just completed his 40th year, compared Baldwin to the all-time greats who came through the Missouri State program.

"He's one of the elite hitters we've ever had here in my time," Guttin said. "He's maybe not as big as the Ryan Howards or Jason Harts or whoever but he's in that group of elite hitters in the terms of the way he hits balls hard and he showed that this weekend."

Baldwin turned out to be quite the player when Guttin had never seen him play before recruiting him to Springfield. He received a phone call from his former volunteer coach who was watching the catcher hit bombs during a summer ball event in Chicago.

"Sometimes, you just get lucky," Guttin said. "I think he's one of the more elite hitters we've had. He's got a nice future in professional baseball."

Baldwin showed flashes during a pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign that lasted 17 games. He followed in his sophomore year by earning second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors while batting .291 and having a perfect fielding percentage in league play.

The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder then followed it up with a junior season that has caught the attention of scouts from across the country. Now, he's likely headed to a professional career as Missouri State's first position player selected since Drew Millas went in the seventh round of the 2019 draft.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: MLB Draft 2022: Missouri State's Drake Baldwin selected by Braves