When going to a minor league ballpark, you never know what you’re going to see. It rings just as true for the major league games as well, but with the minors you’re viewing the future, stellar defense with gold glove potential, bats that hold a pop destined to rake in guys who are dying to come home. Part of that future, is an “under the radar” outfielder in East Lake, Ohio, Nathan Lukes.
The Portland, Oregon native was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 2015 MLB Amateur Draft in the 7th round (214th overall) out of his junior year at Sacramento State University. From there, he started his season with the Indians short season team in Mahoning Valley. After only five games played since being drafted, he broke his hand on Opening Night fouling the ball off on a check swing and he ended up needing surgery, abruptly ending his first professional season. His outlook on the situation was a positive one though, “I was out rehabbing the entire rest of the year in AZ. Everything happens for a reason, It’s just about working through all those rough times.”
Growing up, Lukes learned young that he was made for the life of a ball player. At the age of eight he began to play travel baseball, always playing years ahead of his own age group and with an older brother, who also played, this gave him an advantage that he still holds on to today. “It helps when you play with people who are older, bigger and stronger than you. It taught me to be the player I am today.” As anyone with a sibling knows, they challenge you in ways that no one else will, and when he started his freshman year of high school on the Center High School varsity baseball team, I’m positive his brother, who was a senior that same year, did just that for him.
Lukes wasn’t always the biggest or strongest kid on the field, but that has not let that keep him from being the absolute best he can be. As a recruited walk on for the team at “Sac State”, his goal was to be a starter and after playing most of his baseball career to that point in the infield at SS, they moved him to the outfield where he found his starting position and he never looked back, setting the all-time hitting record for the University. It was his stats in college, among other factors like his speed and strong arm that made him a solid draft prospect, something he dreamed of his whole life. Aspects that also earned him All-WAC First Team for two consecutive seasons.
When asked what pushes him to be his best, of course there is family, friends and coaches, but one stood out a bit more than the rest. Head Coach at Sacramento State, Reggie Christiansen. “Reggie was a man of very few words, he would never say much to me but when he did my ears were open.” And even now, his words have stuck, “[He would say] That I’m always going to come across people I don’t like, and coaches I don’t like, it’s the way I handle the situations that will make me who I am. Be a team guy, not an “I” guy.”
He learned in spring training, to his excited surprised, that he would be starting his 21 year season with the Lake Country Captains, the Indians low A affiliate. Since then, he’s taken off and has yet to come down to earth, batting an impressive .316, with a .400 OBP, 13 steals, 11 doubles, 5 triples and 27 runs all in the span of 40 games. He is the type of player at the plate that fans will be enamored by, and though he continued to tell me how under the radar he is, I don’t believe he will stay that way. He’s in a batting order that seems suited for him, with the top five batters all hitting in the .300’s save for one in the .270’s, and the more Lukes continues to produce, the more a young “Murder’s Row” will continue to form.
It would not surprise me if Nathan progresses quickly and quietly through the ranks of the Indians minor league system, while gaining attention and adoration the higher he goes. He runs the bases with the same confidence he has at the plate, but in no way what so ever is there an ounce of smug about him. He takes in anything and everything like a sponge in order to be the best possible version of himself for his team, and with that is still ready and waiting to prove any that doubt him wrong. His team-first, baseball-first attitude is felt in the stands, and like with so many others that have stood out to me, it only makes those watching him more engaged in what he brings to the game.
So next time you travel to a minor league ball park, don’t sit in the stands and casually look at the players as kids who might make it, look at them as the potential hero your kids will want to play like, as Lukes did looking to Derek Jeter growing up. They are the years we have yet to know, and the plays our future selves won’t ever forget, because like in the major leagues, a minor league game holds things you won’t ever see anywhere else, and even more so, players you can’t afford to miss.
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