Brooks Baldwin
Shortstop
Bat: S / Throw: R
2024 South Side Sox Top Prospect Ranking: 27
Birmingham Barons/Charlotte Knights

Runner-up to Edgar Quero for Sox Populi Player of the Year is fast-rising infielder Brooks Baldwin.

Baldwin was originally drafted in the 12th round in 2022 — the 371st overall pick — but he has been an important asset to the Chicago White Sox organization from the get-go. Baldwin was assigned to the ACL White Sox the summer he was drafted, and worked his way through both Single-A teams in 2023. This year, however, he was invited to spring training with the big league club, in a foretelling of how Baldwin’s season was going to proceed. Baldwin was assigned to the Double-A Birmingham Barons (at the time, regarded as a slightly aggressive call) before being promoted to the Charlotte Knights in August. Baldwin, in the system for fewer than two years, flew right through it, struggling at first but proving success at nearly every level.

In 74 games with the Barons, Baldwin slashed .322/.386/.441 (147 wRC+) and was on base quite a bit, even stealing 16 bases! On the Fourth of July he was once again promoted, this time to the Triple-A Knights. Although his stay turned out to be just eight games, his bat was HOT: Baldwin homered on his first Triple-A pitch and later added another, and his slash-line was glorious: .345/.441/.655 (192 wRC+), amounting to an exceptional 1.096 OPS. Baldwin’s performance in Charlotte was enough for him to advance to the big leagues to close out the season, where he joined a floundering White Sox team barreling their way to the worst record in modern baseball history. How lucky for Brooks to be a part of history.

In 121 PAs (33 games) with the White Sox, Baldwin ended up with a .211 BA and a .566 OPS (58 wRC+), ultimately amounting to 0.0 WAR. He was fooled by a lot of pitches in the majors, shown by a 35% chase rate and a 25.6% K%. Baldwin played the middle infield upon joining the South Siders, with the bulk of the games being played at second base where he posted a .978 fielding percentage and made two errors — defense slightly below MLB average (.985), though it’s also a very small sample size on the worst team ever, so you can likely take some of the stats with a grain of salt. Baldwin unfortunately spent the majority of September on the IL with a wrist injury and his season essentially ended on September 4.

Congratulations to Baldwin on a great season! It will be exciting to see how he can continue to evolve as a player to hopefully contribute success on both sides of the ball. Baldwin deserves to get regular big-league ABs in 2025 to allow him to settle in at the plate and find his place in the lineup.

2024 Sox Populi White Sox Minor League All-Star Team
Brooks Baldwin (SS)
Drew Thorpe (RHSP)
Noah Schultz (LHSP) (Pitcher of the Year)
Edgar Quero (C) (Player of the Year)

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Brooks Baldwin photo: Birmingham Barons