Luke Voit

Voit attended Lafayette High School in Wildwood, Missouri. He played for Lafayette's baseball team as a first baseman and third baseman in his first three years, and as a catcher in his senior year. He also played on their football team as a fullback and middle linebacker.[2]

Voit received interest from NCAA Division I teams as a football player, but shoulder injuries ended his football career. The Kansas City Royals selected Voit in the 32nd round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, but he did not sign. Voit attended Missouri State University, where he played college baseball for the Missouri State Bears for four years.[2] In 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and was named a league all-star.[3] In 2012, his junior season, he batted .298 with six home runs and 46 RBIs in 62 games. However, he tore the labrum in his right shoulder and went unselected in the 2012 MLB draft.[4] As a senior in 2013, he played in 54 games, hitting .299 with two home runs and thirty RBIs.

Voit during his first MLB start

After his senior year, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Voit in the 22nd round of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft.[5] Voit started his professional career as a catcher with the State College Spikes of the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League. He spent all of 2013 there, batting .242 with two home runs and 16 runs batted in (RBIs) in 46 games played. He moved to first base in 2014 and played that season with the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League,[6] 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 of the Class AA Texas League, where he slashed .297/.372/.477 with 19 home runs and 74 RBIs in 134 games.[7] Voit started 2017 with the Memphis Redbirds of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League.[8][9][10]

On June 25, 2017, the Cardinals promoted Voit to the major leagues.[11] In 70 games for Memphis prior to his promotion, he was batting .322 with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs.[12] He debuted against the Pittsburgh Pirates on the same night of his call-up and reached base after being hit by a pitch.[13] Voit started the next day against the Cincinnati Reds and doubled off of Austin Brice for his first major league hit in an 8–2 win.[14] On July 3, he hit his first major league home run.[15] In 114 at-bats for St. Louis in 2017, Voit batted .246 with four home runs, 18 RBIs, and a .736 OPS (on-base plus slugging).[16]

Voit playing first base for the Yankees in 2019

On July 27, 2018, the Cardinals traded Voit, along with bonus pool money, to the New York Yankees for Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos.[17] The Yankees assigned Voit to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League and promoted him to the major leagues on August 2.[18] After he batted 3-for-16 (.188) in five games, the Yankees sent Voit back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 13.[2][19] In his next seven games with the RailRiders, Voit batted 8-for-22 (.364).[2] After Didi Gregorius was placed on the 10-day disabled list on August 21, Voit was called back up.[20]

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 2018. When Voit reached the 10-homer mark, the Yankees set a new major league team record for most players on one team with 10 or more home runs in a season.[21][22] Voit was named American League's (AL) Player of the Week on October 1 after hitting .458 with three home runs and eight runs batted in during the previous week.[23] In 2018, Voit batted .333 with 14 home runs, 33 RBIs and a 1.095 OPS (on base plus slugging) in 39 games for the Yankees.[24]

Voit started at first base for the Yankees in the 2018 AL Wild Card Game. In the sixth inning, he hit a two-run triple off of Blake Treinen (the first triple of his career) to help the Yankees win, 7-2.[25][26]

On April 29, 2019, Voit was named the AL Player of the Week, after hitting .433 with 13 hits, four home runs and 10 RBIs for the previous week.[27]

On August 29, 2019, Voit was activated from the injured list after being on the injured list since June 29 with an abdominal injury. [28] In 2019 he batted .263/.378/.464. He made contact with the lowest percentage of pitches he swung at outside the strike zone (44.2%) of all major leaguers.[29] After the season, Voit underwent bilateral core muscle surgery.[30]

After the signing of Gerrit Cole, Voit announced on Twitter he will change his number from 45 to 59, in honor of his brother.[31]

Voit was the starting first baseman for the Yankees on Opening Day 2020. He hit his first career major league grand slam on July 30, 2020 in the Yankees' 8-6 win over Baltimore.[32] On September 17, Voit hit his 20th home run of the season in the Yankees' 50th game, making him just the third player in franchise history to reach 20 home runs in the team's first 50 games after Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Voit's home run also came in the same inning that the Yankees hit five home runs, setting a new franchise record and tying a major league record.[33] Voit ended the season with 22 home runs, leading the major leagues. He and Yankees teammate DJ LeMahieu, who led MLB with a .364 average, became the first pair of teammates to lead MLB in home runs and batting average since 1959.[1]