Marauders' Baker Still Focused on Diamond Success

Nathan Baker’s athletic prowess fooled several of his high school classmates.

A little more of a premium is placed on football and basketball than baseball at Cordova High School, which is located east of Memphis, Tenn. Baker, one of four brothers to play quarterback at Cordova, beat a rival school by throwing a Hail Mary touchdown pass with four seconds left and sunk another rival school’s hopes on the basketball court with a last-second 3-pointer.

However, Baker’s goal upon entering high school was to play baseball at the next level. The left-hander committed to Ole Miss prior to the start of his senior year and compiled a record of 16-4 in three years as the Wolfpack's ace.

"The funny part was most of the people in my graduating class didn’t know that I played baseball," Baker said. "They thought that I just played football and basketball, but I played all three in high school."

Baker went on to be part of an Ole Miss pitching staff that included five other players who would be selected in the 2009 MLB First-Year Draft, plus the Cleveland Indians’ 2010 first-round pick, left-hander Drew Pomeranz. Able to rely on his talent as a high school standout, Baker learned the mechanics of pitching during his time in Oxford.

"We had some good players come out of there," Baker said. "All of us had a certain role. There was a little competition, it’s all about winning in college and going to Omaha (for the College World Series). It was great. They were a lot of great guys. The best thing about those guys was we all pushed each other. We all wanted to get better and we all helped each other."

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Baker in the fifth round two years ago. Ole Miss teammate and roommate Phillip Irwin was taken by the same organization 16 rounds later.

Baker, whose father, Tim, was a Boston Red Sox prospect and whose late grandfather, Chuck Daniel, was a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, started chasing his dream with the State College (Pa.) Spikes after signing with the Pirates.

"Carrying on (the family’s baseball legacy) is a great feeling, but it’s a personal goal for me to reach the highest level," Baker said. "I have three brothers, and my youngest brother plays at (Middle Tennessee State). He was their closer as a freshman, but he just had Tommy John surgery. It’s just great to have a lot of support from my family and friends from Memphis and Ole Miss."

Opposing New York-Penn League hitters hit just .193 against Baker in his first 16 innings of his professional career. He compiled a record of 6-5 and an ERA of 2.99 in 16 starts for the West Virginia Power before being promoted to the Bradenton Marauders of the Florida State League last summer.

Baker and Irwin have been professional teammates for the majority of the last three seasons. Having concluded the 2010 season with the Class-A Advanced Marauders, the two are back in Bradenton this spring.

While Irwin has compiled a record of 2-0 and limited Florida State League hitters to a .179 average through his first seven appearances of the 2011 campaign, Baker is 2-3 with a 4.56 ERA in 10 appearances. Opposing hitters are batting .319 against Baker.

Baker’s worst performance of the season came when he gave up seven runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings of work against the Dunedin Blue Jays, but he rebounded five days later on May 23 by limiting the host Lakeland Tigers to three hits in six shutout innings in a 5-2 loss.

"It was probably biggest boost I’ve needed all year," Baker said of his performance against Lakeland. "This year has been a little rough for me compared to last year. For the most part, I think it was the mentality that I brought to the mound. Mike Steele, the pitching coach here, has been helping me with that all year. I think we finally overcame it. I didn’t have the greatest stuff that night, but the certain mentality I took to the mound helped me out tremendously."

Following Steele’s advice of battling every inning, Baker scattered six hits and gave up one run in 4 2/3 innings of Saturday night’s eventual 4-3 road loss to the Daytona Cubs. An error in the bottom of the fifth inning prevented Baker from putting in five full innings in what turned out to be Bradenton’s 12^th loss in its last 14 games.

"From my grandfather, I’ve learned that it’s a long season and a grind," Baker said. "If you have a bad outing, you can’t worry about IT because you have to move on to the next outing. You have to stay focused the entire year."