WASHINGTON — Dusty Baker got another managing job, this time with the Washington Nationals. And Major League Baseball got another black skipper, something the man in charge of the sport called “encouraging.”

The Nationals announced Baker’s hiring on Tuesday, nearly a month after firing Matt Williams when the club missed the playoffs.

With Baker joining the Nationals, baseball avoids what would have been its first start to a season since 1988 with zero black managers.

“I am certain that the Nationals, like all of our clubs, hired the best person for the job. It is encouraging that in this case the best person turned out to be African-American,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “This is a positive step and I am intent on making continued progress on diversity in the managerial ranks going forward.”

When the Seattle Mariners fired Lloyd McClendon last month, it left no black managers in the major leagues. No season had started without at least one since 1988; in April that year, Frank Robinson replaced Cal Ripken Sr. with the Baltimore Orioles. Robinson later managed the Nationals.

In the 66-year-old Baker, the Nationals get someone who has worked 20 seasons as a manager in the majors and whose 1,671-1,504 record — a .526 winning percentage — includes the second-most victories among active managers.