Baker likes how new addition Petit embraces multiple roles

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - At 6-foot-1 and a mailbox-like 250 lbs., with a perpetual all-business look on his face, Yusmeiro Petit looks like anything but a Swiss Army knife. A linebacker, maybe. Perhaps a barroom bouncer who's made a living at keeping the peace.

But mention Petit's name to Dusty Baker and the Nationals manager's face lights up. Baker knows Petit, who inked a one-year, $3 million deal with the Nats in December after being non-tendered by the Giants, is potentially one of the most valuable members of the bullpen general manager Mike Rizzo remade this winter.

"Petit, to me, is like a utility pitcher. This guy, he's been around, he knows what to do, he knows how to train," Baker said before today's game against the Astros at Osceola County Stadium. "I talked to (bench coach) Ron Wotus with the Giants and he told me when he thinks of Yusmeiro Petit, it puts a smile on his face. Evidently, he's a good teammate."

Petit, who is expected to throw three innings in today's game, is a rarity in today's game: a chameleon who can adapt and change to whatever role his team needs from him on a given day. It's his second spring appearance, after pitching two innings and yielding a run on two hits on March 3.

Go ahead, try to pigeonhole Petit into a description of just a few words. It simply can't be done, and Baker likes it that way.

"He's a guy who can spot start, he can (pitch in) short relief, he can (pitch in) long relief," Baker said. "That's what I meant by he's a utility pitcher. Everybody can't do that. Some starters are going to take 20 minutes to get loose. They've got a routine. This guy, he can turn his mind to whatever you need him to do. He's a very valuable guy to have on a team. He's like a great utility player."

Last year, Petit was 1-1 with a 3.67 ERA and 1.184 WHIP in 42 games. He made one start and saved one game, logging 76 innings. The previous season, he started 12 games and finished 15 while posting a 5-5 record. Some pitchers don't like it when their role isn't clearly defined; Petit doesn't seem to care and has made a career out of being versatile enough to fill different needs.

As the game has progressed over the past couple of decades, bullpen roles have become more and more specialized. When Baker was playing, a LOOGY was something completely different than a southpaw specializing at retiring left-handed hitters. Back then, if you weren't a starting pitcher, you prepared yourself for whatever might come. Of course, this was a time when closers routinely pitched three-inning saves and staffs were only eight or nine men in some cases.

Baker likens Petit, 31, to one of his former Dodgers teammates, Al Downing, who is most known in baseball history for surrendering record-breaking homer No. 715 to Hank Aaron (when, coincidentally, Baker was kneeling in the on-deck circle). Downing was an effective starting pitcher for the Yankees in the mid-1960s and won 20 games for the 1971 Dodgers, but he prolonged his career by becoming a valuable swingman. If his team suddenly found itself in need of a starter - say a pitcher came down with a stomach bug or migraine - Downing was Johnny on the spot. Baker notes how Downing could sit in the bullpen for the better part of two weeks, get hardly any notice that he was needed in an emergency and still work six or seven innings.

Nationals fans remember the workmanlike six innings of one-hit ball Petit threw for the Giants in the 12th through 17th frames of National League Division Series Game 2 in D.C. in 2014. He provided the backbreaker and picked up the win in the 18-inning marathon that put the Nationals in a two-game hole in the best-of-five series.

Now in D.C., Petit will be asked to do a number of things: give the Nats multiple innings, pitch in one-inning or one-batter stints, take over for a starter who has been knocked out early, pitch late in games in high-leverage situations.

Baker says Petit excels at the mental aspect of his craft, meaning he's always prepared and ready whenever the bullpen phone rings. Relieving can be a mental drain on a lesser-prepared pitcher. But for Petit, it seems to be a case of mind over matter, at least in his manager's view.

"It's more of a mind thing," Baker said. "It's how you train, how you keep yourself in shape. This guy, he looks like a linebacker. He's a strong man and he has a strong mind. I'm glad to have him."