Baldwin Drafted in Fourth Round

Pinecrest's James Baldwin III will follow in the footsteps of his father, James Baldwin Jr., a veteran of professional baseball. Donna Ford

By Patrick Love

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Pinecrest's James Baldwin III Tuesday became the first high school player from North Carolina taken in the 2010 MLB draft.

Calling it a “dream come true,” the senior outfielder was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fourth round with the 142nd overall pick. Previously committed to play baseball at Elon, he now says he’ll turn pro out of high school, following in the footsteps of his father, Pinecrest pitching coach James Baldwin Jr., a 10-year veteran of Major League Baseball.

“We just had to go along with the flow,” James Baldwin III said, noting that at the beginning of baseball season, he didn’t know that being drafted out of high school was an option. “I’m just trying to follow in my dad’s footsteps, because I love the game of baseball.”

A three-sport star at Pinecrest who was an all-conference selection in football, basketball and baseball, Baldwin was co-Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in baseball in 2010, along with junior teammate Dillon Maples. As a result, both were named to the all-state baseball team.

Leading the league champion Patriots to a 19-6 overall record, Baldwin led the team in most offensive categories in his senior season, including batting average (.416), at-bats (77), runs (30), hits (32), doubles (6-tied with Joe Vecchione and Jacob Gibson), triples (2), home runs (7), RBIs (24), stolen bases (16) and on-base percentage (.531).

“Major League Baseball is moving more athletic, and they're certainly getting an athletic-type kid with an athletic frame in J.B.,” said Pinecrest head coach Jeff Hewitt. “We're just so excited. Our program is so tight, we're really family-oriented, and anytime something happens like this, we're all excited.”

The elder Baldwin, a Pinecrest graduate whose name is on the wall at the school's John Williams Field, was 79-74 as a major league pitcher with 844 strikeouts and a career ERA of 5.01. He was runner-up in the Rookie of the Year race in 1997 and won 11 games that year with an ERA of 4.42.

Arguably his best season came in 2000, when, as a member of the Chicago White Sox, he was 14-7 with a 4.65 ERA. That year he was the winning pitcher in the All-Star Game played in Atlanta.

A season later in 2001, he played for the Dodgers.

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LucilleGreybone 2 years, 11 months ago

Way to go, Buddy!

teufelhunden 2 years, 11 months ago

The world is your oyster...stay true & focused!!! Congratulations, that is really something else!!!

DFord 2 years, 11 months ago

Congratulations James!

RD28327 2 years, 11 months ago

Congrats!

my3cents 2 years, 11 months ago

WAY TO GO, JB! WE'RE ALL PROUD OF YOU! STAY FOCUSED AND REMEMBER YOUR ROOTS!

Anonymous 2 years, 11 months ago

JB, all of your teachers from SMS are proud of you! Good luck!

fwm2 2 years, 11 months ago

This is a copied portion from a comment a made about a story about Dillon Maples about JB3 on March 31st:

I just wanted to say that JB3 is really on a rampage of late in the last season of a great three-sport career at my alma mater for Pinecrest...I am very happy for him and glad he chose baseball as his sport of the future.

I am thinking he will be a fairly high draft pick in a few months. He is a true 4-5 tool player...laser outfield arm, savvy fielder with sneaky range, a great contact hitter with a super eye and sense of the strike zone, good speed and lately his power is coming on... and with more weight training it might equal big league power...I predict he will be patrolling an outfield 3-6 years from now in "The Show" as an everyday player

Despite some doubters...it looks like I was right all along

Ever since I saw his swing, eye at the plate and arm when he threw out a runner in a legion game as a freshman I knew he was MLB bound ...I told CB as much saying he was a baseball prospect way back then...not football....

James u are a great kid and it was great getting the chance to cover u sporadically over these past 4 years....hope u have a great ride, best of luck and get to the show soon my man.....