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
At this point, we're taking it slow. We're trying to get him on a course and program to be ready for his start Opening Day. We don't know if he'll be second or third on the list, but we're trying to get him ready.
At this point, we're grooming him as a starter. That's why we got him. It's not like we have a surplus of starters.
That's a good time to talk to people. They're usually loose.
That's a real good sign. It shows the kind of guys we have here.
The last few days, we haven't been as sharp. Baseball players aren't used to getting up at 5, 6 o'clock every morning. You have one day off in six weeks, that's a pretty good grind.
The last couple weeks, he has really progressed. It's impossible to predict a rehab. You can't rush him, or he will be in-and-out, in-and-out. Hopefully, it's not too long.
The last couple days Michael has come up with some heroics.
They both were very impressive. We'd heard some things about these guys, but the guys improved a lot. Fox was one of the most improved guys in camp. He's a young guy, with very little experience in the Minor Leagues. Those guys are doing good.
They were booing in St. Louis, too. Maybe it's the way of the world right now. I never saw them booing anybody in St. Louis.
They were struggling before Lee's absence. They were struggling when Lee was here.
They were struggling before Lee's absence. It'd be different if it just started. They've been struggling while Lee was here.
They'll have to get some concentrated at-bats. Every year, I send guys who I don't think are ready down to the Minor Leagues to hit at the top and bottom of the order so they get nine to 18 at-bats at a time. When they get back, I'll find out exactly how much they played. In the case of a catcher, you have to get his legs ready squatting up and down in a game, too. We'll do whatever we can to get them ready.
They hit some balls on the nose. The elements were with us tonight. This is sort of strange. You think spring is here, then winter shows back up again, I guess that is Chicago; you've just got to deal with it.
We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much. He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.