Former Houston Astros Manager Prepares for Son’s Major League Call-Up

Dusty Baker will have the honor of being a Major League Baseball dad when his son, Darren, is called up on Sunday.

Rochester’s Darren Baker is tagged out by Buffalo’s Rafael Lantigua trying to steal second base. / Jamie Germano/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

Major League rosters expand on Sunday, and that’s news across baseball. For the Houston Astros, along with the rest of baseball, that means a couple of new players will be joining the team for the stretch run.

For the Washington Nationals, it will create a full-circle moment for former Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker.

The future Hall-of-Fame manager, who helped the Astros win the 2022 World Series, will live the thrill that every baseball father has when his son, Darren, is called up by the Nationals.

Nats Talk was the first to report that the 25-year-old Baker would join Washington as they faced the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

The elder Baker has a connection to both teams, as he managed both the Cubs and the Nationals after he left the San Francisco Giants, where got his first managerial job.

In retirement, he is a special assistant to the Giants, a job he accepted in January.

Darren Baker was a 10th-round pick by the Nationals in 2021 out of California. He’s in his fourth professional season and spent the last month picking apart Triple-A pitching at Rochester. He batted .337 and had a 16-game hitting streak in August.

That fed into some of the best offensive numbers of his career, as he slashed .285/.348/.340/.688 with 20 doubles, two triples and 49 RBI. He doesn’t have his dad’s power, as Dusty Baker hit 242 career home runs in a 19-year Major League career.

Darren Baker is just the latest young player to join the Nationals. Most recently Washington has called up two of its top prospects, James Wood and Dylan Crews. Both are playing every day.

Darren has been around baseball all his life, naturally. He was the bat boy in the 2002 World Series and fans most likely know him as the kid that J.T. Snow picked up at home plate in Game 5 of that series to keep him safe.

It’s not clear if Dusty Baker will be in Washington for his son’s first game. But when he retired last year he set as a priority of watching his son play baseball as his day job prevented it.

Baker, now 75, retired after the Astros lost to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series in October, wrapping up a four-year stint leading the franchise.

During his tenure the Astros won three straight AL West titles, reached the ALCS all four seasons and reached the World Series twice, which included a World Series title in 2022.

Baker finished with a 320-226 record with the Astros.

Baker’s managerial career started with the Giants in 1993 and spent a decade leading them to two NL West titles, three playoff berths and the 2002 World Series, where the Giants lost to the Los Angeles Angels.

Baker finished with an 840-715 record with the Giants.

He is one of a handful of managers with more than 2,000 career wins. He finished his career as 2,183-1,862. He’s also one of a few that have World Series rings as players and managers.