Joseph Harris is in his fourth year at Penn State, but he has been setting himself up for success long before his upcoming graduation.

The agricultural business management major from Springfield, Virginia, has spent the past three summers working in the dugout for the Washington Nationals as a bat boy.

Harris began networking during his first semester at University Park and was able to secure a summer position with the Nationals through an old friend who worked for the Major League Baseball team.

“He called me one day, and he was like, ‘Hey, are you interested in working for the Nationals, or at least trying to come work for us?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely’,” Harris said.

That small opportunity turned into Harris working at Nationals Park each summer since his freshman year.

“I immediately started as a bat boy the first day I got there. Normally, you have a range of jobs. Whether it’s working in a clubhouse during the game, or you’ll be out on the field being the bat boy, so just kind of getting out and immediately doing that really made me love being on the field, and seeing a different perspective,” Harris said.

Being a bat boy for one of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams has its perks. One of those perks is being able to interact with professional baseball players on a day-to-day basis. In the dugout for every home game, Harris sees the players and the game in a different way than most fans ever get to experience.

“Sitting in the dugout, even just watching the game, I can sometimes just get caught ball watching, just like watching how fast the game moves, how fast pitchers throw, how far the ball will travel on a home run…It’s always kept me motivated, because my love for baseball has always extended far beyond these four years. I’ve literally been playing baseball since I was five,” Harris went on to describe the opportunity he has experienced.

Harris wears many hats on gamedays, including setting up the dugout for the players, fielding batting practice, handling equipment, and working with the team or the umpiring crew during the game.

Whatever the team needs, he is there for them.

The player interactions are some of Harris’s favorite memories during his time with the Nationals. He relishes the fact that he was able to become close with some of the younger guys on the roster and share stories about college and the Penn State White Out.

“I think that being in this role really kind of opens up your eyes to seeing that they are humans, like, no matter what, even though they are multi-million dollar athletes that you see on TV every single day,” Harris said.

At Penn State, Harris wasted no time getting involved either. The senior is an active brother in Delta Sigma Pi, a professional co-ed business fraternity at Penn State, and also served on the organization’s executive board. Earlier in his academic career, Harris was also a member of the International Business Association and a few other clubs on campus.

Now, in the midst of his final year in college, Harris has been able to cherish the amazing opportunity with his time as part of the Nationals’ organization. Harris would love to still work in sports in some capacity post-grad, but knows no matter where he ends up, he has learned so much through his experiences around the ballpark.