Batting Around: Which rookie would you rather build an MLB team around, Nick Kurtz or Drake Baldwin?

Throughout the season, the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we picked teams that could make a surprise run after selling at the trade deadline. This weekend we're going to pick between two rookie sluggers.

Which rookie would you rather build your team around: Nick Kurtz or Drake Baldwin?

Mike Axisa: Guys like Kurtz and Kyle Stowers (and lesser-known names like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani) are showing you can be an excellent hitter despite below-average contact rates. They both swing and miss a ton, particularly in the strike zone, and that is often a fatal flaw. You have to thread a needle, but it can work. Kurtz whiffs a lot but also has top-tier hard-hit ability. He hits the ball about as hard as anyone in the sport. That said, Baldwin's exit velocity is excellent as well, and he gets the bat on the ball more than Kurtz. He also plays a more premium position, not that he's a standout defender behind the plate (Kurtz won't win any first base Gold Gloves anytime soon). I would happily take either player on my team. Force me to pick one and I'll take Baldwin. He's a really good hitter and an adequate defender at the game's most demanding position, and he doesn't have the same contact-related collapse risk as Kurtz.

Dayn Perry: I have to go with Kurtz here. He's younger, was a higher draft pick, was ranked modestly higher than Baldwin coming up through the minors, and, unlike Baldwin, he's not jousting with Sean Murphy for playing time at his primary position. I also treat catching prospects like Baldwin skeptically when it comes to offensive development (though Baldwin has been excellent this season). Kurtz gets bonus points for out-producing Baldwin in their rookie seasons. 

R.J. Anderson: Credit to you for picking two really interesting players here. I'll say Baldwin because of his positional value and his less volatile offensive skill set. I'm not 100% sold on that choice though. I wonder if the future of catching, in Atlanta and elsewhere, is to run a straight-up timeshare arrangement, which would reduce his workload but also his overall value. If nothing else, it could require a more rigid approach to roster construction that would keep the DH spot vacant for him to slot in on days he doesn't catch. Depending on his performance (and his dance partner at catcher), that may not always be a trade-off worth making. At the same time, Kurtz's swing-and-miss issues make him a little less certain than this overall output indicates, and he has to hit (and hit a lot) to provide the same amount of value as a solid two-way backstop. 

Matt Snyder: I'm gonna go with Kurtz. Though it took him a few weeks to get acclimated to the majors, he's been legitimately one of the best all-around hitters ever since. He's hit for average, gotten on consistently (check the recent on-base streak) and hit for power. His power looks like it could make him a superstar, too. I love Baldwin but he feels like more like a very good player for a long time than a superstar to me -- notably, I agree with Dayn's stance on skepticism regarding catchers and their offense -- and I don't feel like it's an insult to say I'm taking Kurtz over him at this juncture.