Greetings from Botswana. We are having a great time. Yesterday, we went on a safari ride, we followed a male lion who looked to be tracking something through the long grass for more than an hour. It was fascinating to watch him.
And we had a rather beautiful sunset:
Nathan Lukes is a 30-year-old, left-handed hitting outfielder. He can play all three outfield spots, including a reasonable center field. It isn’t at Varsho’s level, but I’d be good with him in center as a backup.
He was a 16th-round draft pick by Cleveland in 2015 and was signed by the Jays as a minor league free agent after the 2021 season.
The Jays added him to their 40-man roster in November 2022. He had a nice season with the Bisons in 2022 but had a great year with them in 2023, hitting .366/.423/.530 with 5 home runs in 48 games.
But he actually made the Jays out of spring training, playing in 29 games, hittting .192/.290/.308. I hate when we call guys up and have them sit on the bench, but such is life.
Last year, the team called Nathan up for a day on May 3rd. In June, he went on the IL with the Bisons, ending up on the Jays 60-day IL to open up a roster spot. He was activated in mid-August and called up to the Jays at the end of August, finishing the season in the majors. Playing in 22 games, he hit .303/.371/.447 with a home run, 2 triples, 4 doubles, a steal, 10 walks and 9 strikeouts.
Nathan still has an option year left, which gives him a fair bit of value to the Jays, but if it were a choice between him and Davis Schneider for the fourth or fifth outfielder spot, I’d gladly take Lukes. But we have some guys that can play infield and outfield, and they might get the 26th-man spot. And Joey Loperfido will be competition for that role.
Nathan also has some younger prospects who will be catching him up for playing time. Alan Roden spent much of last season in Triple-A, and he looks almost major-league-ready. Jonatan Clase is a better center fielder who got some playing time in the majors last year but hit very few in his few at-bats.
Nathan could help himself by having a great spring and being close by if George Springer continues to play like an old George Springer instead of the George Springer of old. I don’t know how long of a leash he will have this year.
Lukes had a great spring last year, hitting .450/.500/.600 in 40 at-bats.
At 30 (31 in July), he has few chances left to break through to the majors.
Steamer doesn’t think he’ll get much playing time this year: 26 games, 99 PA, 2 home runs and a .266/.328/.384. ZiPS is much more hopeful: 90 games, 6 home runs, .272/.330/.389 line, but ZiPS doesn’t care as much about figuring out playing time.