Nathan Donald Lukes (pronounced “Lucas”; born July 12, 1994) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

High school and college

Lukes grew up in

Antelope, California Antelope is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States located approximately northeast of downtown Sacramento and southwest of Roseville. The population was 48,733 at the 2020 census. Geography According to th ...

and attended Center High School. He enrolled at

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Sacramento State Hornets The Sacramento State Hornets (also Sac State Hornets) is the team that represents California State University, Sacramento in intercollegiate athletics. The school fields 21 teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, ...

for three seasons. He was named All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) after hitting .347 with 26 RBIs and 54 runs scored in his sophomore season. After the season, Lukes played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the Victoria HarbourCats in the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

. He repeated as a first team All-WAC selection as a junior after batting for a .345 average with 81 total hits, seven home runs, 38 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases. Lukes finished his collegiate career as Sacramento State's all-time hit leader with 244.

Professional career

Cleveland Indians

The

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

selected Lukes in the seventh round of the

2015 Major League Baseball draft The 2015 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 8 through June 10, 2015, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2014 MLB season standings. As the Diamondbacks finished the 2014 season ...

. After signing with the team he was assigned to the

Mahoning Valley Scrappers The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Niles, Ohio, a city in the valley of the Mahoning River, and play their home games at Eastwood Field. From 1999 to 2020, they were ...

, where he played in five games before missing the rest of the season after breaking his right hand. He began the 2016 season with the Single–A

Lake County Captains The Lake County Captains are a Minor League Baseball team in Eastlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, that plays in the Midwest League as the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. The Captains joined the Class A Midwest League following ...

before being promoted to the High–A

Lynchburg Hillcats The Lynchburg Hillcats are a Minor League Baseball team in Lynchburg, Virginia that plays in the Carolina League and is the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They were a farm team of the Atlanta Braves from 2011 to 2014, the Cincinn ...

Tampa Bay Rays

On August 1, 2016, the Indians included Lukes in a trade with the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

in return for

Brandon Guyer Brandon Eric Guyer (born January 28, 1986) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and mental strength coach for the Los Angeles Angels and the University of Virginia Cavilers Baseball team. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) ...

. Lukes started the 2017 season in Charlotte before being promoted to the Double-A

Montgomery Biscuits The Montgomery Biscuits are a Minor League Baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and play in the Southern League. The team was founded in Orlando, Florida, in 1973 as the Orlando Twins ...

after six games. Lukes returned to Montgomery in 2018, playing in 115 games and batting .278/.331/.400 with 6 home runs, 51 RBI, and 9 stolen bases. Lukes played for the Triple-A

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...

in 2019, where he batted .219/.294/.319 with four home runs and 31 RBI in 91 games. He did not play a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Lukes was named to the Rays' 2021 Spring Training roster as a non-roster invitee. He spent the entirety of the 2021 season with Durham, playing in 85 games and batting .303/.352/.456 with 4 home runs and 44 RBI.

Toronto Blue Jays

On November 29, 2021, Lukes signed a minor league contract with the

and was invited to spring training. Lukes played in 111 games for the Triple-A

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

, hitting .285/.364/.425 with 11 home runs, 61 RBI, and 20 stolen bases. On November 10, 2022, the Blue Jays added Lukes to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. On March 28, 2023, Lukes was announced as the final member of Toronto's

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster. In 29 games for Toronto, he batted .192/.290/.308 with no home runs and two RBI. Lukes was optioned to Triple–A Buffalo to begin the 2024 season. He was recalled to the majors on May 3, but sent back down again on May 4 without playing. On June 14, Lukes underwent surgery to repair the UCL in his left thumb. On September 28, Lukes hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

starter

Xzavion Curry Xzavion Rashan Curry (born July 27, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins. Amateur career Curry was born in ...

References

External links

Sacramento State Hornets bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lukes, Nathan Living people 1994 births Baseball players from Oregon Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charlotte Stone Crabs players Durham Bulls players Lake County Captains players Lynchburg Hillcats players Mahoning Valley Scrappers players Major League Baseball outfielders Montgomery Biscuits players Sacramento State Hornets baseball players Toronto Blue Jays players Victoria HarbourCats players