John Baker (baseball)

John Baker
San Diego Padres – No. 8
Catcher
Born: (1981-01-20) January 20, 1981 Alameda, California
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 9, 2008 for the Florida Marlins
Career statistics (through May 5, 2013)
Batting average	.260
Home runs	14
Runs batted in	103
On base percentage	.343
Teams
Florida Marlins (2008–2011) San Diego Padres (2012–Present)

Baker playing for the Florida Marlins in 2009

John David Baker (born January 20, 1981) is an American professional baseball catcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.

Amateur career

Baker graduated from De La Salle High School (Concord, California) in 1999 before attending the University of California, Berkeley. As a junior in 2002, he led the Pac-10 Conference with a .383 batting average and was selected to the All Pac-10 team.

Professional career

Minor leagues

Baker was drafted in 2002 by the Oakland Athletics in the 4th round of the amateur draft. He was mentioned several times in Michael Lewis' 2003 book Moneyball. In late 2004 he was promoted to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and he played with the Triple-A team in 2005 and 2006. In March 2007, Baker was traded to the Florida Marlins for minor league first-baseman Jason Stokes. He spent 2007 and the start of 2008 with the Marlins' Triple-A club.

Florida Marlins

Baker was called up to the majors on July 9, 2008, after Matt Treanor went on the disabled list. He assumed duties as the regular catcher for the rest of the season. His first major league hit was a solo home run off Chan Ho Park of the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 10. In 2009-10 Baker shared the catching duty for the Marlins with teammate Ronny Paulino; Baker generally played against right-handed pitchers while Paulino played against left-handed pitchers.

Baker went on the disabled list in May of 2010 with a strained flexor tendon in his right arm. At the end of the 2010 season, Baker had Tommy John Surgery when the elbow did not improve. He spent most of 2011 rehabbing from the surgery and rejoined the Marlins in September when rosters expanded, serving primarily as a pinch-hitter.

San Diego Padres

On November 22, 2011, Baker was traded to the San Diego Padres for Wade LeBlanc. . Baker served as back-up to Nick Hundley and Yasmani Grandal, starting 52 games and batting .238 while throwing out 16% of base runners.

Personal

During the offseason, Baker has taught Physical Education at St. Isidore School in Danville, California, where his wife, Meghan, used to teach.

Baker enjoys broadcasting. He had a stint as a co-host with Rick Tittle on the SportsByline USA radio network.

Baker is also a philanthropist who was nominated for the Roberto Clemente award, among other humanitarian awards. He visited the troops in the Middle East and he also helped victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• John Baker on Twitter