Dex Ponce: Extend Baldwin Today

Extend Drake Baldwin today.

Not next week. Not after the All-Star break. Not when Sean Murphy comes back and the Braves pretend they have a "good problem" at catcher. Today.

SI floated the idea this week and somehow made it sound like a question. It's not a question. A 24-year-old catcher slashing .321/.390/.623 with a 1.013 OPS and the most RBIs in baseball through seven games is not a "developing situation." It's an answer.

Ellis will give you the Aaron comparison and the statistical layers — read that piece when it drops. I'm giving you the business case: the Braves have locked up young stars before. Acuna got eight years, $100 million at 22. Albies got seven years, $35 million at 22. Both deals look like heists now. Baldwin won NL Rookie of the Year last season hitting .274 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs. He's been better every month since.

Chipper Jones said Baldwin is "not far from becoming the best catcher in baseball." FanSided projected eight years, $80 million. SportsTalkATL went seven years, $86 million. Those numbers only go up from here.

Here's what makes this urgent: Murphy starts his rehab assignment today. When Murphy returns, the conversation shifts from "Baldwin is the guy" to "Baldwin is part of a timeshare." That's when the leverage changes. That's when Baldwin's camp starts thinking long-term free agency instead of long-term Atlanta.

The Braves have five years of team control. That sounds like time. It's not. Every week Baldwin keeps hitting like this, the extension costs $10 million more.

I'm 75% sure the Braves will extend Baldwin before August. I'm 95% sure they should have done it yesterday.

Tell me I'm wrong.