Washington Nationals Manager Dusty Baker Likes Crazy Closers

Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker has very specific ideas about what it takes to make a good closer.

Dusty Baker has been in Major League Baseball since 1968. He appeared in more than 2,000 games as a player and has managed more than 3,300 games. Between his playing career and his managerial career, Dusty Baker has been a part of more than 5,300 major league games.

Because of all that experience, Dusty Baker knows some things. He knows he likes on-base percentage if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage, but “clogging up the bases isn’t that great.” He once said, “When you have an opportunity to take the lead and you don’t, most of the time something bad happens.” He also knows that “everybody knows something, and nobody knows everything.” Wise words from a wise man.

The Washington Nationals failed to re-sign their closer at the end of last season, Mark Melancon, and saw him sign with the San Francisco Giants. They also pursued top-tier closers Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen, but didn’t land either of them. There are no available free agent relievers who are on the same tier as Melancon, Chapman or Jansen, so options from outside the organization are much less appealing than they were two months ago.

The Nationals could turn to a reliever already on their roster, but they don’t have an established closer and Dusty Baker would really prefer an established closer. The relief pitcher currently on the roster with the most career saves is Shawn Kelley, with 11. Kelley certainly has the stuff to get batters out. Over the last two years, he’s pitched 109 1/3 innings with a 2.55 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. He’s struck out 11.8 batters per nine, which puts him ninth in all of baseball among relievers with 100 or more innings. But does Shawn Kelley have that “it” factor that Dusty Baker is looking for?

In December, Baker was talking to reporters about what he looks for in a late-inning reliever. Among his comments, he said, “You’ve got to have a guy that’s kind of—a little on the crazy side. Most of the great closers I know are a little on the crazy side, or at least different. I’ve played with some good ones and they’re all different, because to try to get that last three outs out of a team is very difficult.”

There have been some “crazy” closers over the years. During Baker’s career, there was Goose Gossage, a mountain of a man with a thick mustache who would huff and puff and hurl his fastball to the plate like it insulted his mother. Gossage was a teammate of Sparky Lyle, who also sported a mustache, but didn’t have the intimidation factor of the Goose. Lyle was on the “different” side, though. He led the league in sitting on birthday cakes while naked. There was also the bearded Al “The Mad Hungarian” Hrabosky, who would pound the ball into his glove and stomp around the mound like a crazy person.

But not all closers act like this. It’s not a prerequisite of the job. Dusty Baker’s been a part of more than 5,300 Major League Baseball games, so he has experience, I’ll give him that. But the idea that a closer needs to be a little crazy or a little different is ridiculous.

The greatest closer of them all is Mariano Rivera. No one ever described Mariano Rivera as crazy, or even a little different. Mariano didn’t stomp around the mound like a madman or come running in from the bullpen in a full sprint. He just very calmly did his job and he did it better than any reliever ever has.

The best relief pitcher in baseball last year was Zach Britton. He didn’t have a gimmicky beard or wacky hairstyle or bizarre mound presence. He just threw a sinker that induced ground balls 80 percent of the time and he allowed four earned runs in 67 innings (0.54 ERA) while saving 47 games, the second-most in baseball. Mark Melancon, who pitched the last two months of the season with Dusty Baker’s Nationals, also had 47 saves and he’s as vanilla as the come.

More from Call to the Pen

Most closers don’t arrive in the big leagues as closers. Many start off as middle relievers until they’re given a chance to close and show they can get the job done. Some fail as starters before becoming dominant relievers, like Zach Britton (4.86 ERA as a starter, 1.35 ERA as a reliever) or Wade Davis (4.57 ERA as a starter, 1.51 ERA as a reliever).

Closers aren’t some mythical beings that have been anointed with the ability to save baseball games from some ethereal force somewhere. They are good pitchers who get the opportunity and have success. When Zach Britton and Wade Davis were failing as starting pitchers, no one would have predicted how good they would become as relievers. When Mark Melancon had a 6.20 ERA in 45 innings for the Boston Red Sox in 2012, no one would have expected him to have a 1.80 ERA in 290 innings over the next four years.

Shawn Kelley has shown over the last two years that he can get batters out. Maybe he isn’t crazy, or a even little different, but if Dusty Baker will give him the opportunity, Shawn Kelley could be the next Mark Melancon. Just to be sure, though, Shawn Kelley should grow a bushy beard, shave his hair into a mohawk, maybe get some tattoos and piercings. When spring training starts, he should ride into camp on a Harley-Davidson wearing leather chaps.

Next: Extension for Dusty Baker?

Shawn Kelly may need to act more closer-like, for the sake of the Washington Nationals. He may need to make Dusty notice that he’s a little crazy, a little different, just to prevent Baker from asking the Nationals to sign “proven” closer Santiago Casilla or bring back Jonathan Papelbon. If the ninth-best strikeout rate among relievers over the last two years won’t do it, perhaps some wacky facial hair will get him the job.