Braves Get Drake Baldwin in All-Star Form in Return From Injury

Drake Baldwin may have missed a month, give or take, due to an oblique injury but with the way he looked in his return, it's as if he didn't miss a single beat.

The Atlanta Braves catcher led off the bottom of the first inning Tuesday night by launching a 3-1 pitch a whopping 473 feet to dead center field for a solo home run. For good measure, it came off the bat at 112.8 mph.

"Some guys are just special, man," Walt Weiss said. "That's not easy to do, take a month off or whatever it was, and it was literally the first swing he took 473 feet. Some guys are just different, and Drake's different."

It became the longest home run hit by anybody this season so far. He just beat out Nick Kurtz, who hit one out 471 feet last week in Las Vegas last week.

Before Tuesday, Kurtz and Shea Langeliers (467 feet) were the only two players to hit a home run 463 feet or farther today.

The one rehab assignment game and the other conditioning that he did in the build up to this was more than sufficient.

Back in Jacksonville over the weekend, he hit one out that came off the bat at 110 mph. It didn't matter if he was facing Triple-A or big league pitching; he was ready to deliver the big hit.

While he's off to a strong start in the game, the job isn't done. The torrential downpour led to the game being suspended until Wednesday. He has to help the Braves rally from down 3-2 against the San Francisco Giants.

The game is expected to resume at 2 p.m. on Wednesday as part of a day-night doubleheader.

At the time of the game's stoppage, Baldwin was batting .307 with a .953 OPS and 14 home runs on the season. The strong return only helps build upon an All-Star case that is helping him lead in the voting at his position early on.

He's already well on his way to making it to the second phase of the All-Star voting. This would represent the reigning National League Rookie of the Year's first apperance in the Midsummer Classic.

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