Washington Nationals news & notes: Darren Baker makes MLB debut with Dusty Baker in D.C.

The Washington Nationals drafted Darren Baker out of high school in 2017, but he opted to attend the University of California, Berkeley, then drafted the son of former Nationals captain Dusty Baker again in the 10th round in 2021 and signed him to a second contract.

“Obviously he has the pedigree, but he’s a really good player. You watch him play on the field and you know he’s smart, that’s a big trait. He’s got the tools, he’s very versatile,” Nationals West Coast crosschecker Mark Baca told reporters during the ’21 draft.

“He can play second base, he can play center field, he can run,” Baca said, “… so we really liked him, along with his dad, Dusty. The way he works the clock, great instincts, everything. He’s a player we really like.”

“You look at Darren’s dad and you think, ‘OK, Darren’s going to be big,'” Chris Klein, then assistant general manager and vice president of scouting and now special assistant to general manager Mike Rizzo, told reporters. “We’re going to wait for him to get a little bit bigger, but he’s lean and athletic. So when he gets to professional ball, we want to see if he can master the ability to drag bunt, do one or two a game, get 10, 15, 20 extra-base hits and take advantage of his number one asset, which is his speed.”

D.C.’s new manager has known Baker since Baker’s own playing days, when Davey Martinez played for Dusty’s team in San Francisco and later when his team would travel to play the Giants.

“I saw Darren on the field when we played in San Francisco,” Martinez said, so it was an emotional moment for the manager to finally see Darren get called up to the majors.

“Darren has done really well the last two years at Rochester,” he told reporters before the series finale. Chicago Cubs In the nation’s capital.”[He’s a] “He’s a guy that can help us in a lot of different ways, defensively, hitting, he’s got a good head to the ball, he’s a left-handed hitter, he can play a lot of different positions, so it was worth giving him a chance to come here and play a little bit and see what we can do.”

Photo: Scott Tetch/Getty Images

“If Dusty isn’t here yet, he should be here soon,” Martinez added, “so I’ll get to meet him as well and it’ll be nice to see his son play in the major leagues.”

For Darren, returning to Nationals Park, where his father was the manager,He was always behind the scenes at the ballpark.(2017) seemed a little less stressed, or at least more comfortable, after being called up by the team on expanded rosters Sunday compared to the first day of his major league career.

“I think it’s especially comfortable here,” he said of the Nationals’ clubhouse.

“I knew how to get here,” he joked, “I didn’t even have to type it into my phone, so it was a relief to just show up.”

Darren said when he found out the news he called his mother first, then his father.

“He tried to act cool, but I knew he was excited,” he said.

His father was thrilled that his son had made it to the major leagues, but not surprised.

“I always thought he [a big league player] Because that’s what he wanted,” Baker said. Quote from MLB.com reporter Jessica Camerato.

“He put in the time and effort. He thought he had the talent to do it. … He’s not in awe of being there. He’s grateful, but he feels comfortable, like he’s at home.”

Baker, 25, appeared in 112 games and 483 at-bats with Triple-A Rochester this season, batting .285/.348/.340 with 20 doubles, 38 stolen bases (on 43 attempts), walked 43 and struck out 91 times.

Martinez was asked before Sunday’s game how Baker stood out and earned his opportunity this year after batting .286/.348/.354 in 346 games over four minor league seasons.

“His style of play,” Martinez said succinctly, “is close to a .290 batting average, maybe a little higher, but he understands how to play. He was raised a baseball player, right? But he understands the game, he knows how to play. He steals bases when he needs to, he puts the ball in play, puts guys home, scores a ton of runs, he does all of that stuff, he’s a baseball player.”

Darren, meanwhile, said he knows his path here is different than many others who didn’t have a father who was a veteran of 19 seasons as a major league player and 26 seasons as a manager.

“I’m a bit unusual, and I think that makes me unique,” Darren admits. “It’s been a lot of different experiences and encounters to get to this point, and I’m just getting started. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I’m grateful for it all.”

Especially for the way his father worked to foster his son’s love of the game.

Photo: Scott Tetch/Getty Images

“He’s great. He never forced me to play, never pressured me, never overbeared,” Darren said. “I just… [the] I play games myself, and I think it’s really helped me in the long run.

“Especially those long days on the bus at Triple-A or wherever. He’s awesome and he lets me be myself.”

On September 17, 1968, Dusty got his first major league hit in just his third at-bat. Darren needed just one pitch, hitting a cutter ball down the middle of the field for his first major league hit, 20,438 days after his father’s first hit (out of 1,981 days overall).

It meant a lot to Darren that his father was at the stadium when he got his first hit.

“My mom came to every game,” he told MLB.com, “but my dad missed a lot of games over the years because of the MLB season, so I’ll always remember this day as a special day for him.”