Dusty Baker
Dusty Baker
Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr.is an American Major League Baseball manager and former player. He is currently the manager for the Washington Nationals. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder, primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Dodgers to pennants in 1977 and 1978 and to the championship in 1981. He then enjoyed a 20-year career as a manager with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and now Washington Nationals. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1949
CityRiverside, CA
CountryUnited States of America
We want to get him in the position to give him the best chance to make the club. He worked hard last winter. We know he can help this club. I can tell he's helping some of the young guys and the veteran guys about how to go about their business and how to play this game.
That's the most unselfish, smartest spot in the lineup. You have to be able to handle the bat. It's also a position that won't run as much because then they'll walk D-Lee. It's a position for a more established, accomplished veteran player.
One of the hardest things in this game is a fallen star. When a guy accepts the position that he's in in his career, it makes it easier on a manager and coaches and very beneficial to the guys on the team.
I didn't have any choice because I had a short bullpen. If we tied the game up, and I'm out of pitchers, where I have to hit for them -- I only have five guys. That's why I double-switched, to get the most innings out of the guys pitching without running out of pitchers and running out of position players.
He's concerned about fielding his position and running the bases and all that kind of stuff, ... For D-Lee not to be playing, you know it's got to be something.
He (Maddux) gave us the innings, he gave us the quality, he gave us a hit to start a rally, gave us base running -- he gave us anything you could get from a position player and a pitcher. We needed it badly.
He did his part in all ways. He pitched great, he made some great fielding plays, he stole a base, he got our first hit. He did everything he could to put us in position to win.
You've got to throw strikes. That's with most young guys. Throw strikes, throw quality strikes. Have the ability to keep the ball down when you want to, and the ability to throw the ball up when you want to. When you throw the ball outside, you don't want it to creep back inside. The main thing is just relax. Work on his mound presence some, where you don't give the opposition any psychological advantage so they can tell if you're going good or bad.
I haven't been in this position in years. I'll mix and match and do what we can because we owe it to ourselves and to the fans to try to win. September is around the corner. We'll call up some people, though we don't know who yet.
I'll just take the same. Everybody asked if last year was a career year. I don't believe in career years. Once you do it once and find your formula, you should be able to do similar. He knows what he's doing now. He has an idea. He knows how to make adjustments quickly. He's very consistent. He recognizes very quickly what the opposition is trying to do to him and he knows his own limitations.