Luke Voit

Luke Voit
Voit with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017
New York Yankees – No. 45
First baseman
Born: (1991-02-13) February 13, 1991
Wildwood, Missouri
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 25, 2017, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
(through September 27, 2018)
Batting average .285
Home runs 17
Runs batted in 51
Teams

Louis Linwood Voit III (born February 13, 1991) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2017 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and also played for them in 2018 before being traded to the Yankees during the year.

Career

St. Louis Cardinals

Voit during his first MLB Start.
Voit during his first MLB start

Voit attended Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 32nd round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign and attended Missouri State University, where he played college baseball for the Missouri State Bears. After his senior year, he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 22nd round of the 2013 MLB Draft.[1]

After signing, Voit started his career as a catcher and made his professional debut with the State College Spikes. He spent all of 2013 there, batting .242 with two home runs and 16 RBIs in 46 games. He moved to first base in 2014 and played that season with the Palm Beach Cardinals[2] where he batted .276 with nine home runs and 51 RBIs in 93 games. He returned to Palm Beach in 2015, compiling a .273 batting average with 11 home runs and 77 RBIs in 130 games. Voit spent 2016 with the Springfield Cardinals where he slashed .297/.372/.477 with 19 home runs and 74 RBIs in 134 games.[3] Voit started 2017 with the Memphis Redbirds.[4][5][6]

On June 25, 2017, the Cardinals promoted Voit to the major leagues.[7] In 70 games for Memphis prior to his promotion, he was batting .322 with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs.[8] He debuted on the same night of his call-up against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he reached base after being hit by a pitch. Voit started the next day against the Cincinnati Reds and doubled off of Austin Brice for his first hit in an 8–2 win. On July 3, he hit his first major league home run. Voit was optioned back to Memphis for the first time since his call-up on August 21, but was recalled on August 27 and spent the remainder of the season with the Cardinals. In 114 at-bats for St. Louis, he batted .246 with four home runs, 18 RBIs, and a .736 OPS.

New York Yankees

On July 27, 2018, the Cardinals traded Voit, along with bonus pool money, to the New York Yankees for Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos.[9] The Yankees assigned Voit to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, promoted him to the major leagues on August 2, and sent back down to Triple-A on August 13.[10][11] After Didi Gregorius was placed on the 10-day DL on August 21, Voit was called back up.[12]

Voit took over the Yankees' starting first baseman job from Greg Bird; he hit his tenth home run for the Yankees on September 20, becoming the twelfth player on the Yankees to hit 10 home runs during the season, which set a new MLB team record.[13][14] Voit was named AL Player of the Week on October 1 after hitting .458 with three home runs and eight RBIs.[15] After the trade, Voit batted .333 with 14 home runs, 33 RBIs and a 1.095 OPS in 39 games for the Yankees.[16] His 14 home runs in that time period were the second-most in the MLB behind Christian Yelich's 15.[17]

Voit started at first base for the Yankees during the 2018 American League Wild Card Game. In the sixth inning, he hit a two-run triple off of Blake Treinen, the first triple of his career, to extend the Yankees lead to 5–0.[18]

Personal life

Voit proposed to longtime girlfriend Victoria Rigman in October 2017.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Voit Selected by St. Louis on Final Day of MLB Draft". Missouri State Bears. June 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ 5:49 p.m. CT June 25, 2016 (June 25, 2016). "Luke Voit powers up for All-Star festivities". News-leader.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Luke Voit Stats, Highlights, Bio – MiLB.com Stats – The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  4. ↑ Frederickson, Ben (September 8, 2016). "BenFred: Voit hitting his way onto Cardinals' radar | Ben Frederickson". stltoday.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  5. ↑ foxsports (June 30, 2017). "St. Louis Cardinals: Luke Voit continues to surge in possible MVP season". FOX Sports. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  6. ↑ Gelman, Max (May 7, 2017). "Minor league report: St. Louisan Voit has his eye on the majors | St. Louis Cardinals". stltoday.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Former MSU, Springfield Cardinal star Luke Voit gets big league call". Kspr.com. June 25, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Former Bear, St. Louis native Luke Voit called up to Cardinals | Ozark Sports Zone". Ozarkssportszone.com. June 25, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  9. ↑ Post-Dispatch store (July 29, 2018). "Cardinals trade Voit to Yankees for relievers Shreve, Gallegos | St. Louis Cardinals". stltoday.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Yankees call up Luis Cessa, Luke Voit | What it means". NJ.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Yankees to call up Ronald Torreyes from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, option Luke Voit". Pinstripe Alley. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Yankees' Luke Voit: Called up by Yankees". CBSSports.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Luke Voit keeps hitting homers as Yankees bow to Red Sox in regular season finale". North Jersey. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  14. ↑ "New Bronx Bombers: Yankees set MLB, franchise HR records with Luke Voit shot". Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Luke Voit, David Dahl are Players of the Week". MLB.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Luke Voit emerges as Yankees' unlikely spark plug". Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Joel Sherman on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Luke Voit's Wild Card Game triple helps Yanks". MLB.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
  19. ↑ "BenFred: Memphis not in Luke Voit's plans for next season". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
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