Missouri State Professional Athletes

Missouri State has two alumni making noise in the final stretch of the MLB regular season, and both are doing it in the moments that matter most.

Baldwin Walks It Off in Atlanta

Drake Baldwin had the week's most dramatic moment when the Braves catcher — now a fixture in Atlanta's leadoff spot — delivered a walk-off RBI double to sink the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5. The play capped a back-and-forth game that also featured an Austin Riley solo shot, and it underscored just how central Baldwin has become to Atlanta's late-season push.

It wasn't a one-night heater. Baldwin was productive all week: he homered and drove in a run against Tampa Bay on Wednesday, picked up an RBI hit the following Tuesday, and went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored in a 12-2 rout of Philadelphia on Saturday. Across the week, he slashed at a .277 clip — a number that reflects a steady, quietly productive season from a catcher who's earned his leadoff reps. The Braves had previously announced a lineup adjustment putting Baldwin back at the top of the order for Sunday's game against Philadelphia, a move that clearly paid off well ahead of schedule.

Burger Goes Deep Twice for Texas

Across the country, Jake Burger was authoring his own highlight week for the Rangers. On Sunday, September 6th, the former Missouri State first baseman launched two home runs and drove in three runs as Texas rallied from two four-run deficits — to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6 and split a four-game set. Burger went 2-for-4 in that game with three runs scored, turning what could have been a demoralizing loss into a series salvage.

The power didn't stop there. Burger added another home run and an RBI on Wednesday against the Mariners, keeping his bat warm as Texas tries to stay relevant in the AL West. He finished the week batting .235–.239, modest by surface-level standards but buoyed by the kind of multi-hit, multi-RBI explosions that define his value to a Rangers lineup hunting late-season wins.

The Rest of the Bear Alumni

Elsewhere in the brief, Nationals catcher Drew Millas is dealing with a tough end to his season — he's been placed on the 60-day IL and is scheduled for a second procedure on his left index finger this year, effectively ending his 2026 campaign. It's a frustrating conclusion for the Missouri State backstop, who had been sidelined since mid-July.

Pierce Johnson saw action out of the Reds bullpen across three appearances this week, posting mixed results — a clean inning against the Brewers on Sunday, then rougher outings against the Dodgers and Brewers later in the week. He carries a 4.74 ERA heading into the final weeks of the season.

The bigger story, though, belongs to Baldwin and Burger — two Bears delivering when their respective clubs need it most.

Missouri State alumni are making their presence felt as the MLB season enters its final stretch, with Drake Baldwin and Jake Burger both delivering for their respective clubs the week of Aug. 30–Sept. 5.

Baldwin Won't Let the Sophomore Slump Exist

Drake Baldwin is doing his best to make the concept irrelevant. The Braves catcher posted hits in five of six games tracked this week, going multi-hit three times and batting .277 on the stretch — a number that climbed as high as .279 mid-week before settling back down after a September push. He drove in runs, scored runs, and drew walks: the full package of a patient, productive hitter.

The week's bookend performances told the story well. On Aug. 31 against the Giants, Baldwin went 2-for-the-day with an RBI and a run scored. On Sept. 5 against the Phillies, he went 2-for-the-day again, finishing the week as one of Atlanta's more reliable offensive contributors. Per Sports Illustrated, Baldwin is actively defying expectations for a second-year player — and the numbers back that up.

He was even slotted into the leadoff spot for Atlanta's makeup game against San Francisco, a signal of the trust the Braves coaching staff has placed in a catcher who was never supposed to be carrying this kind of lineup responsibility. For MSU fans, it's a remarkable arc to watch in real time.

Burger Keeps the Hits Coming in Texas

Jake Burger didn't have the flashiest week, but he was quietly consistent in a way that matters for a Rangers team still grinding through the final weeks of the season. The first baseman collected hits in four of six games, including a standout Sept. 5 performance against the Rays in which he went 1-for-the-day but added two runs scored and three walks — the kind of plate discipline that doesn't always show up in the hit column but absolutely shows up in the lineup's impact.

Burger sat at .237 to close out the week, a figure that reflects a full season's worth of at-bats rather than just one hot stretch. Per FanGraphs, Burger's approach at the plate is methodical — he categorizes pitchers into mental buckets and works to stay calm in the box, a philosophy that appears to be sustaining him through the grind of a 162-game schedule.

His Aug. 31 through Sept. 2 stretch against the Athletics included two hits and an RBI on Tuesday, helping Texas to an 8-1 win, before a quieter outing the following night in an 8-5 Rangers victory.

Pierce Johnson Provides Depth for Cincinnati

Worth a quick mention: Pierce Johnson, the MSU righty now with the Reds, made three appearances this week in relief, logging 2.2 innings across outings against the Padres and Brewers. His ERA sat at 4.35 by week's end — not flashy, but functional for a bullpen arm working through a long season.

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Three Bears in big-league action as September arrives. Baldwin is the headliner, Burger is the steady contributor, and Johnson is doing the unglamorous work that keeps bullpens functional. For a mid-sized Missouri program, that's a legitimate MLB footprint.

Drake Baldwin Delivers the Only Run That Mattered

Missouri State catchers don't usually win pitching duels — but Drake Baldwin did exactly that on Thursday, Aug. 27, when his solo home run supplied the lone run in a 1-0 Atlanta Braves victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Chris Sale handled the rest, spinning his fourth career complete-game shutout. Baldwin scored the only run of the game, and that was all Atlanta needed.

It was a signature moment in what's been a quietly impressive week for the Bears' most prominent MLB alum. Baldwin went 1-for-1 with the homer and an RBI on Thursday, then followed it up with a 3-for-3, 2-RBI, 1-walk performance the next day against those same Dodgers on Wednesday. Across the full Aug. 23–29 stretch, Baldwin collected hits in every game he appeared in. His average climbed from .268 to .275 over the week, a sign of a catcher who is heating up at exactly the right time in the season.

Jake Burger Keeps Mashing in Texas

While Baldwin grabbed headlines, former Missouri State first baseman Jake Burger continued to make noise in Arlington. The Rangers' designated hitter had hits in three of four games this week, highlighted by a Monday performance against the White Sox that featured a home run, two RBIs, a run scored, and two walks. He added another solo shot on Tuesday. Burger is slashing .236 on the season — not a flashy number, but his pop remains legitimate. Two homers in back-to-back games against Chicago underscores why Texas has kept him in the lineup.

Around the Rest of the Bears

The week was quieter for Missouri State's other active big leaguers. Hayden Juenger had a tough Tuesday outing for the Athletics against the Twins, surrendering three earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning to push his ERA to 9.00. Pierce Johnson made appearances for the Reds on Sunday and Saturday, tossing a clean inning against Arizona before a brief 0.1-inning cameo against the Cubs. His ERA sits at 4.42 heading into the final stretch of the season.

The rest of the Missouri State contingent — Jeremy Eierman, Jake McCutcheon, Drew Millas, Spencer Nivens, and Luke Voit — did not factor into the game logs this week.

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The story of the week belongs to Baldwin. A catcher delivering a walk-off-quality swing in a pitcher's duel against the Dodgers is the kind of moment Missouri State fans will be replaying for a while. He's batting .275, hitting in every game, and making a credible case that he belongs in a big-league lineup every day. The Bears have never had a louder week in the majors.