September 1: The Nationals have officially announced the selection of Baker’s contract. Right-hander Trevor Williams was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Baker on the 40-man roster, and righty Zach Brzykcy has been recalled from the minors to fill the additional pitching roster spot created by today’s roster expansion. Brzykcy’s first appearance will be his MLB debut. The righty’s impending call-up was firs reported by Talk Nats.
August 31: The Nationals are planning to select the contract of second baseman/left fielder Darren Baker on Sunday, according to the Talk Nats feed (X link). Some space will need to be cleared on Washington’s 40-man roster, but a corresponding move on the active roster might not be necessary, since rosters expand from 26 to 28 players on Sunday.
A 10th-round pick for the Nats in the 2021 draft, Baker isn’t considered one of Washington’s top 30 prospects by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline. However, he has been red-hot at the plate in August, building his season-long slash line to .285/.348/.340 over 483 plate appearances with Triple-A Rochester. While he doesn’t offer much power, Baker makes a lot of contact and is a threat on the basepaths, with 38 steals in 43 attempts this season.
Baker has primarily played second base and left field during his minor league career, but might not get a ton of action at either position since Luis Garcia Jr. and James Wood (both left-handed batters, like Baker) are established in everyday roles. Baker has played a bit of center field so he could get some platoon work up the middle with Jacob Young, and he could join the DH mix with the likes of Juan Yepez, Andres Chaparro, and veteran Joey Gallo.
Baker will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in a game, but the 25-year-old is no stranger to the big leagues. The son of legendary manager Dusty Baker, Darren became known to fans when he was just three years old, and working as a batboy for the father’s Giants team during the 2002 World Series. During Game 5, Baker was running towards home plate to pick up Kenny Lofton’s bat after a two-run triple, and might have been run over by baserunner David Bell if J.T. Snow hadn’t quickly grabbed the youngster out of harm’s way after Snow scored earlier on the play.
That incident led to the league instituting a rule that all batboys had to be at least 14 years old, and thus “the Darren Baker rule” has already ensured Baker some level of notoriety within baseball history. Now, he can create a new name for himself by officially becoming a Major League player, and continuing the Baker family’s on-field legacy in the game. (Current fans may know Dusty Baker best as a manager, but the elder Baker was a two-time All-Star and former NLCS MVP during an outstanding 19-year playing career.)
Maybe he can be the bat boy.
Take a look at the numbers: .286 with .708 OPS, even though he got hurt last season when he was hitting about .325 at AAA. Would have been promoted to replace Luis Garcia when the Nats demoted Garcia for being lazy and fat.
baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=bak…
JT Snow saved little Darren from getting run over. Great memory.
Good luck Darren!
JT’s dad instincts kicked in on that day.
Hire JT Snow as the hitting coach in Washington
The Nats should invite JT Snow to be Baker’s bat boy for the day and he can escort him to the plate.
Yes. A million times yes
This time, Darren has to pickup JT on a play at home plate lol
That would be so awesome, just for a cameo
he’s a coach for the oakland ballers, I’m sure he can squeeze in a trip to DC today
This is a really odd choice, looks like just a PR move to thank a former manager.
But a team in the Nats position and condition can afford to do that if it wants.
“Just a P.R move”..A public relations move by an industry that relies on the good will of the general public? What next, bringing back your old stars for an old timers game?
What is so odd? Darren Baker hits. People have sneered each season that Baker will fail because he does not hit home runs. So what? He hits .300 and plays acrobatic defense, and he steals bases. Joey Gallo hits home runs, once in a great while, and he strikes out nearly always. DFA Gallo to make room for Darren Baker.
Baker plays good not acrobatic defense.
I would imagine an acrobat would struggle defensively in baseball since the skills aren’t especially well correlated.
“Acrobatic” was a Fangraphs comment after Baker put the glove behind his back to snag a ground ball that took a weird hop as Baker was going to his right. That play is on Youtube someplace.
Dreams come true. What a great moment it will be for Darren, Dusty and the entire family. Good for them.
And Darren got a hit on the first pitch he saw.. His parents just beamed.
absolutely ZERO power, so he better hit like Ty Cobb
Darren Baker “merely” hits about .300 with superb defense, and great base-running.
“superb” enough defense to keep him in left field or on second base, i just dont think that is the right adjective. not doubting his wheels and contact ability, but this is no future gold glover. acceptable defense and some versatility would be a more compelling argument
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away the vast majority of Middle Infielders (and oddly most backup Catchers) had zero power throught Major League Baseball. Good defense and solid bat-to-ball skills still play in MLB despite the myriad of sub .200 hitters mashing 30 Home Runs with 200 strikeouts to match
As an old Washington Senators fan, I remember Pete Runnels….399 hitter without much power, good fielder, given away to the Red Sox in a salary dump: AL batting champ 1960 and 1962.
baseball-reference.com/players/r/runnepe01.shtml
Sadly I remember it most for Dusty pulling Russ Ortiz when he was pitching well. Angels went full throttle after that move.
Ortiz was pretty done at that point in the game. It was the logical move to pull him, but Felix Rodriguez threw gasoline on the fire. Dusty should’ve brought in Tim Worrell instead.
Darren Baker has hit well every season and at every level in the Nationals organization. Each year, “experts” have said: (1) the Nats only drafted him as a favor to Dusty; (2) Mike Rizzo did a favor to Dusty, but he will fail at A, but Darren Baker hit .300 there;; (3) Baker will fail once he faces better pitching at A+, but he hit .300; (4) so the “experts” said he would fail at AA, but he hit .300 again; (5) they said “surely” he will fail at AAA, but he is still hitting. Fangraphs concedes, grudgingly, that Baker is an acrobatic fielder.
Good for Darren Baker.
Why are you making up stuff?
“Good for Darren Baker…making up stuff?”…I enjoyed the astute analysis of J.W, considering I just now found out Dusty Baker will have a kid playing in the bigs. I usually only pay attention once guys get called up to the bigs.
On Washington Nats Fan Forum, we have followed Darren Baker for years. Each year, there is another joke about the “experts” who claim that THIS year Baker will fail. And he hasn’t. Has a .286 average over four seasons in the minors, including a tough 2023 when he was playing as he rehabbed from an injury. Take a look:
baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=bak…
Welcome to the bigs, young man. I know you have a proud papa today.
I can still see that in my head . lol
Yep. Some World Series moments are famous like Joe Carter’s Home Run or Luis Gonzalez walk off single, then there are some that live on in infamy such as Bill Buckner’s miss play or Don Denkinger’s blown call. Baker fits into the latter as that play still lives on in infamy