Former Dukes aid rise of Washington Nationals

One-time JMU teammates key to top-rated MLB farm system
By David Driver

Orginially published in Fall 2012 Madison magazine.

Mega-prospects Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper needed to hone their skills in the minor leagues the past two seasons before bringing their talents to Washington. So the Nationals put their trust in Doug Harris (’87) , the director of player development for the club since 2010.Ryan Zimmerman, an All-Star MLB third baseman, needed to make a change in his throwing motion last season after surgery. So the Washington Nationals turned to Jeff Garber (’88), a minor league infield instructor, for help.

Washington, once a perennial loser and National League laughingstock, took thoughtful and incremental steps in becoming a legitimate playoff contender through the annual June draft. The team’s minor league system began the 2012 season as the best in pro baseball, according to industry leader Baseball America. A few years ago the Nationals ranked 30th, and last, in the same category.

And the Nats have taken those steps with pro veterans Garber and Harris, former Diamond Dukes whose stellar college careers overlapped for one season in 1988 under former JMU head coach Brad Babcock.

“It is a credit to everyone, from the owners to scouts and player development,” Harris says of the Nat’s ranking. “It is a collective effort and shows that we are making big strides and hopefully it leads to more wins on the field.”

Both Harris and Garber were drafted out of JMU by Kansas City and they were once teammates at the Class AA level in the Royals’ farm system. Neither infielder Garber nor right-handed pitcher Harris played in the Major Leagues, but now they work with younger players who are trying to get there.

“We grew up 40 minutes apart,” says Garber, a former minor league manager who has worked in the Washington farm system since 2009. “I was a senior captain and he was a freshman at JMU. I had to mentor him. Now he is my boss.”

Zimmerman, who played at the University of Virginia, worked with Garber for nearly 30 days in the middle of the 2011 season during a rehab assignment. Garber followed Zimmerman from the Nats’ spring training home in Viera, Fla., to minor league stops in Hagerstown, Md., Woodbridge, Va., and Syracuse and then to home games at Nationals Park as Zimmerman worked to throw with more of an over-the-top motion. “We went with the model of 21 days to break a habit,” Garber says. “He felt like he was comfortable with the adjustment. He was diligent. He’s a professional.”

Tony Beasley, a former infielder at Liberty University, was a minor league manager in the Washington system with the Harrisburg (Pa.) Senators in 2010 and was promoted to Class AAA Syracuse for this season.

“To be put in charge of tackling that task and a guy with that status (Zimmerman), obviously the organization has a lot of confidence in Jeff’s ability,” Beasley says of Garber, who grew up in McConnellsburg, Pa. “He is constantly up to date on throwing programs and takes care of the little things. We communicate very well. I assisted him in drill work during 2011 spring training. He is a hard-working guy and very passionate about his job.”

Harris, who pitched at the Class AAA level for the Royals, Orioles and Marlins, has one of just 30 jobs in pro baseball as the director of player development for Washington. The title is generally referred to as farm director in baseball circles, and Harris is in charge of stocking the minor league system from the rookie team in the Gulf Coast League in Florida to Syracuse, the top Nats’ affiliate.

Harris made the move from scouting to farm director when he came to Washington after working for Texas and Cleveland. “I think the biggest difference is when you are a scout you walk into games by yourself. When you are the farm director you walk out with the 25 other players and the other 125 players who are in the organization,” Harris says.

A native of Carlisle, Pa. Harris also hires managers and coaches for the minor league system and decides, along with input from Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo, when to release players and when to sign players who have been let go by other organizations.

“I think Doug has done an outstanding job,” says Beasley, a former MLB coach with Washington and Pittsburgh. “He allows you to be comfortable in your own skin. He makes you feel like you are a valuable part of what is going on. We share his vision.”

The past two seasons were even more intense as pitcher Strasburg, drafted in 2009 by the Nationals, made his pro debut in 2010 and attracted national coverage. The same thing played out last summer as outfielder Harper, Washington’s 2010 No. 1 pick, made his pro debut with Class A Hagerstown before he was promoted to Class AA Harrisburg. “Certainly there is more awareness with those two. They are both tremendous to deal with,” Harris says of Strasburg and Harper.

Thanks to Harper and other prospects, Washington was named the top farm system heading into this season. “This is a huge day,” Rizzo told The Washington Post when the Nats’ farm system was named the best by Baseball America. “We should make a big deal of this.”

Garber and Harris have other things in common outside of baseball. Both of them were born on Sept. 27 and each of them has a child who was born Sept. 28. “It is a little crazy, isn’t it,” says Harris, who added the two were roommates in the minor leagues in Memphis in 1994.

And perhaps one day they will celebrate a Washington pennant-winning team, which they played a part in building.