OPINION:
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — Darren Baker may be living proof that all kids should be raised in a major league baseball clubhouse.
“He’s a great kid,” Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.
He’s right. Baker is a polite, composed young man who, if you didn’t know his last name, you might miss that he comes from baseball royalty – the son of future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker.
The 5-year-old San Francisco Giants bat boy we watched in 2002 nearly get crushed by David Bell running full steam for home plate in Game 5 of the World Series — he was snatched up and saved by Bell’s teammate, J.T. Snow, just as Bell crossed the plate — is now a 25-year-old big league prospect in Nationals training camp.
It’s very familiar territory for Baker. He spent much of his childhood in big league clubhouses, from San Francisco to Chicago to Cincinnati — all stops along the way of Dusty Baker’s great managing career.
“In San Francisco, I would go straight to the ballpark from school,” he said. “My mom would drop me off and I would spend the rest of the day at the field. There were days when I didn’t get home until midnight. It was always part of my life.”
He doesn’t shy away from being known as Dusty Baker’s son — he calls his father his “best friend” — but he has a chance to build his own baseball career with the Nationals.
The younger Baker, 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, was drafted twice by Washington — once out of high school, and, after he opted to go to college at California, a second time in the 10th round of the 2021 draft.
“He has a huge baseball IQ, with tools,” Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. “He’s a left-handed bat with speed and a good glove at second base. I think he’ll be able to help any big-league club and we’re lucky to have him.”
Baker has seen time both in the outfield and the infield while moving through the minor league system, though his future is most likely at second, where he has seen most of his time in Nationals spring training.
“Darren was groomed to play the game, and he couldn’t have had a better teacher than Dusty,” said Martinez, who replaced the elder Baker after he was fired in Washington following the 2017 season.
“Darren understands the game and how to play it. He’s been at second base this spring, but he is the kind of guy who can do a lot of things. He’s a good left-handed hitter who will move a guy over if you need to, bunt if you need to, or take a walk. He’s fun to be around, and we look forward to him being up with the team.”
In 99 games with Class AAA Rochester last year, Baker had 110 hits, 19 stolen bases and batted .273. He is batting .333 this spring through 10 games.
“I feel like I keep getting better each year,” Baker said. “I still feel I may not be at the finished product level yet, but as I move up to each level, I get more comfortable.
“I take pride in my fielding,” he said. “Last year I was jumping back and forth between playing the infield and learning how to play the outfield. This off-season I really had the chance to focus on my fielding and clean up what I do there.”
When Baker needs advice, he can pick up the phone and call Barry – as in Bonds, who played for Dusty in San Francisco. Or Jay Bruce, who played for Dusty in Cincinnati. Or a number of other major leaguers who watched Baker grow up.
“I talk to Barry a lot,” Baker said. “He lives probably an hour or so away from me. Joey Votto, we still talk a lot. He used to drive me to spring training games. Me and my cousin were so small we could both fit in his passenger seat. Jay Bruce was with me the night I got drafted.
Of course, his father remains a close confidant. Dusty, who retired from managing last year as the Houston Astros skipper and now works for the Giants as a special adviser, was in West Palm Beach last week to watch Darren play.
“We have a lot of conversations,” Baker said. “It’s a classic Dad and son kind of conversation. I hold what he says in the highest regard. Some stuff works for me, and some stuff doesn’t.”
This was one conversation Martinez was pleased to hear. “He said his dad told him, ‘Listen to Davey.’”
Baker doesn’t flaunt his phone contacts list. If anything, all that time with big league players in clubhouses gave him a unique viewpoint that few young players would have – jobs are precious and sometimes day-to-day.
“I would be friends with a player and the next day they would be gone,” Baker said. “It happened a lot as I got older when we were in Cincinnati, and I got closer to some of those guys. It’s a tough side of the game, the business of it. You build relationships and then one day someone is gone.
“I think it gives me a different perspective,” Baker said. “Being here and having this opportunity, you can’t take it for granted. I’m very appreciative of it every day.”
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
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