Washington Nationals: Top 5 Dusty Baker Quotes For April 2017

April 7 – Multi-Run Home Runs Are Better

“Homers are fine,” he said. “But multi-run homers are better. Solos are cool, but that’s one run.” (h/t Mark Zuckerman, MASN Sports)

This quote was given by Baker before the Washington Nationals played a Friday afternoon game against the Philadelphia Phillies. In the first three games of the season against the Marlins, the Nats offense had six home runs.

But, out of those six home runs, only one of those was not a solo shot. That home run was by Adam Lind in a pinch-hit situation on Opening Day. Home runs are great, but the situation where you hit those home runs goes a long way in deciding each game.

That afternoon, the Nats had three home runs in a 7-6 win over the Phillies and all three of them were with runners on base. Baker is not a psychic, but his team found a way to deliver in a big way and all three of those home runs played a factor in the victory.

This season, the Washington Nationals offense has been known for their home run power. Their 36 home runs are tied with the Colorado Rockies for the second most in the National League (Milwaukee Brewers are first with 43).

With the talent in this offense, there should be plenty of home runs for the Nats this year. But, what’s been impressive in the first month of the season is the team’s ability to hit in clutch situations. The team is hitting .349 with runners in scoring position with 12 home runs (best in the NL in both categories).

April 11 – Adam Eaton Sleeping Like Tony Gwynn

“Adam, I was telling him the whole time, Adam has to try to sleep like Tony Gwynn. He said that means you get two or three hits a night. I’m sure he’ll sleep well tonight.” (h/t Byron Kerr, MASN Sports)

With Trea Turner going on the disabled list, it was up to Adam Eaton to be the team’s leadoff man. Fortunately, the Washington Nationals had Eaton on the roster, who had leadoff experience with the Chicago White Sox. In his second game for the Nats in that spot, Eaton had a career night.

Against the St. Louis Cardinals, the center fielder went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI’s in the Nats’ 14-6 win. That set the tone for Eaton as the leadoff hitter in D.C. In 16 games as the leadoff hitter, he hit .314 with eight walks, 11 RBI’s, and an on-base percentage of .388.

Unfortunately, Eaton won’t be the leadoff hitter anymore this season after tearing his ACL and meniscus and spraining his ankle in the loss to the New York Mets Friday night. But, while he was healthy, he was the spark that the offense needed while Turner was out.

Of course, he wasn’t going to put up Hall of Fame numbers like Gwynn did with the San Diego Padres. However, if you can imagine yourself having that success, you never know what you can achieve. Maybe that was the message Baker was going with when he made that comment.

Again, Baker isn’t psychic, but Eaton did have seven multi-hit games from April 10-April 27. He definitely will be missed in this lineup.

Opening Day – Adam Lind’s New Name

Normally, you have one chance to make a good first impression. But, it’s not uncommon for Baker to mix up someone’s name. If you go back to last year, Baker even messed up Bryce Harper’s name when he called him Royce Harper.

However, if you go back to that time, it was just a mistake and Baker even talked about it with 106.7 The Fan before the 2016 season and what nickname Harper calls him.

I know the guy’s name. I don’t know why I called him ‘Royce.’ Most of us have nicknames, plus I call some of them ‘Junior,’ I call some of them ‘Dude.’ They know who I’m talking to. And so Bryce, he called me ‘Rusty.”

If you live in New York like I do, there’s only one Linsantiy. But, Lind’s pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the seventh gave the Nats a lead on Opening Day that they never looked back on.

With the raucous atmosphere at Nats Park that day, it would be quite easy to forget someone’s name. Despite mixing up his name, Lind has been great for the Nats as a pinch-hitter and a backup first baseman. He is hitting .345 with two home runs and nine RBI’s in 18 games wearing a curly W uniform.

It’s tough to get mad at Baker for mixing up names. Lind may not have the hype that Linsanity did when Lin was playing basketball in New York, but he has proven that Mike Rizzo made a good choice with that signing.

April 29 – Stop Changing My Lineup

One of the toughest jobs that a manager has to do is setting up the lineup card every day. When you have an offense as strong as the Nats do, you can’t really go wrong with a lineup. But, keep in mind, these comments were made the day after the Adam Eaton injury.

When you look at the context of this quote, it was a good question to ask about Turner or Harper going to center field because each of them have center field experience. But, these comments are further proof that Baker is a players manager.

If you look at how Baker uses his bench, for example, he is going to give players an opportunity to play when they are on the 25-man roster. He gives you the opportunity to succeed or fail and you would think a player would have to respect that.

So far, the Washington Nationals have used Michael Taylor as the center fielder and he has succeeded as he went 5-for-11 with two RBI’s in those starts against the New York Mets.

Whatever happens with Taylor the rest of the way, he can’t say that Baker didn’t give him the opportunity.

We also saw this when Danny Espinosa was slumping last year in the postseason. Espinosa had a bad start to the NLDS but he ended up having a RBI single in game 5. It has to feel good for a player to still get the trust from his manager even when he’s slumping.

That alone shows why Baker has great value to this franchise.

April 12 – Bryce As The Big Bass

Anytime that Bryce Harper is put in the same sentence as a fish, it has to be the number one quote of the month on the countdown. During the week that this quote was made, Harper was having an incredible series against the Cardinals.

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In those three games, Harper went 5-for-10 with three RBI’s and drew five walks. This season, Harper has been more patient at the plate and it has led to a National League high 22 walks. In addition, he has nine home runs and 32 runs scored.

When Harper is healthy, he is as patient at the plate as anyone in the game. He is going to lay off the pitches that are very close to the corner and be selective before he gets a pitch to drive.

As Baker put it in this quote, you need to throw him “bait” to get him to chase pitches. We saw something similar to bait in the first two games of this past weekend’s Mets series when the New York pitchers would throw him offspeed pitches to get him to chase.

Baker has some fun references sometimes, but this one made us laugh and for good reason. When Harper is red hot at the plate, he is the hitter that pitchers just can’t seem to “reel in” when he’s locked in.

Next: Offense Finishes Historic April With A Bang

If you see a quote from Baker this month that you feel should make the May edition of the top five, send it to us on Twitter (@DistrictonDeck).