It doesn’t hurt if your dad knows a thing or two about baseball. It certainly helped University of Texas-Arlington second baseman Darien McLemore.
A second baseman named McLemore might sound familiar. Former Texas Rangers second baseman and current Rangers TV analyst Mark McLemore — also known as the "Doctor of Defense" — is Darien's father.
"To me that was a normal everyday life with him, being a professional athlete and being able to teach me all the things I needed to learn to be able to play baseball at the highest level possible," said the Mavericks second baseman.
He’s certainly taking his father’s advice. Darien is hitting .330 this season while playing solid defense at second.
The younger McLemore says he and his father talk about baseball after every game.
"If I had a great game, we’ll talk about the things I did great. If I had a bad game, we’ll talk about things I did well, things I can improve on," he said. "The things he’s taught me over the years the most is to be able to analyze my own game. He’s instilled the values in me to learn myself, as a player, to be able to know what I’m doing wrong and how I can fix that."
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Now the conversation turns to the younger McLemore breaking down his father’s play as an analyst.
"I make fun of his broadcasting," Darien said. "I get onto him, as well as my brother and sister. A lot about things he says on air and things he does on air, just because it’s fun. It’s always nice to keep it light with him."
Darien came to UTA from Southlake Carroll High School, one of the best baseball programs around.
"It’s a very prestigious program. It’s a great place to be to get a lot of spotlight on you and get recognition," he said. "I think that was a really good thing for me, to be able to get out there and be seen by a lot of big programs like UTA."
Darien McLemore is definitely being seen while making an impact during his time on the field at UTA.
