First baseman Luken Baker has been sent outright to triple-A Oklahoma City, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after the Dodgers designated him for assignment last week.
Baker, 28, is a fairly limited player. His only defensive position is first base and he’s not a burner on the basepaths. He has demonstrated some notable skills with the bat but he is having a down year.
Over the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, Baker stepped to the plate 832 times at the Triple-A level. He hit 65 home runs in that time. His 22.4% strikeout rate was around average and his 15.1% walk rate was quite strong. That led to a combined .278/.388/.619 batting line and 147 wRC+.
However, he hasn’t been able to bring much of that up to the big leagues. He has only been given 189 major league plate appearances, with a .206/.317/.338 line in those. This year, he’s been struggling in the minors as well, with a .197/.311/.399 line. Part of that might be a .233 batting average on balls in play. His 13.7% walk rate is still strong and he has hit ten long balls.
Even if there is some bad luck, the trend lines aren’t great for Baker. He’s a 28-year-old who still hasn’t clicked in the show. He is in his final option year, meaning he’ll be out of options in 2026. The Cards tried to pass him through waivers a week ago, even though they didn’t need to open a roster spot. The Dodgers grabbed him but quickly put him back on waivers. The 29 other clubs all passed on the chance to grab Baker off the wire.
Baker has less than three years of service time and this is his first career outright. That means he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He’ll have to report to the Comets and will provide the Dodgers with some non-roster depth. His path back to the big leagues isn’t great, with the Dodgers having Freddie Freeman at first and Shohei Ohtani in the designated hitter spot. Baker will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if not added back onto the 40-man.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images
“struggling in the minors as well, with a .197/.311/.399 line. Part of that might be a .233 batting average on balls in play”
Have more confidence. Part of that IS his poor BABIP.
Future Yankee legend. Luke Voit 2.0.
Write that down…………
He never did heat up. He was just luke warm.
He used the forcen.
The Cardinals let designate him and he’s a great pick for the Dodgers and a huge loss for the Cardinals because he has potential. The Dodgers designate him and he’s a limited slow player having a down year. A bit of bias perhaps?
Any team could have claimed him. The fact that 29 teams including the Cardinals passed suggests that he isn’t a great pickup for anyone.
He/she’s pointing out the inconsistent analysis between the two articles, not actually making his/her own analysis.
He/she? Dude, we don’t play these games.
Gender is at birth! Stop playing make believe.
Make believe? Oh that’s why they legalized Gay Marriage like 10 years ago now…
Who wears the pants sweetheart
I’m not doing any such thing. I simply don’t know that person’s gender, and I refuse to use to plural pronouns to represent singular people, so he/she is the best option.
I’m not sure which two articles you mean, but my point isn’t a response to them anyway. It is a direct response to the poster’s argument. Teams may evaluate potential differently, but that doesn’t mean Baker is a great pickup for the Dodgers and/or a huge loss for the Cardinals. He is still a long shot for seeing any action in the majors.
But the original poster wasn’t making that kind of argument in the first place! He/she was pointing out the hypocrisy of MLBTR praising Baker’s abilities in the previous article about the Dodgers grabbing off of waivers and now slamming him in this article, all while remaining completely neutral about Baker him/herself.
That analysis that you disagree with was done by a previous MLBTR article that the original poster paraphrased, NOT necessarily the opinion of the original poster.
29 teams also passed on Adolis Garcia when he was DFAed in February 2021… imagine a world where he didnt win ALCS MVP in 2023 cause someone else signed him? Lol Texas might not have made it to the world series that year and Houston would have beaten Arizona instead… think I can speak for the people still bringing up trash cans that we can thank our lucky stars he stayed right there
Not saying this will happen for Baker, but you never know unless your like Jezebel or sumthin
Only potential is how many wings he can eat in 30 minutes
Rick Ross be like “wingstop fat boy needs a 10 piece”
I was pointing out inconsistent writing and I hate that he/she crap I also have a wife not a partner. The comments on a baseball page geez
When we’re Luken bak-en at this in the future, I think it’ll turn out to be a good move
Did for Max Muncy…
Which one?
I can’t read his name without going Young Frankenstein: Frau Blucher.
:horse whinnies:
How he has lasted this long is amazing. Only good for DH as first base is challenging for him
Well, he normally hits quite a bit better in both AAA and MLB compared to his lousy year this year. He even hit his way onto the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster this year with an excellent Spring Training.
Coming to e neighborhood softball beer league near you!
I know it’s very much a first world problem but I can only imagine how hard it is to be a fringe major league ball player and bounce to and from the minors and the bigs and from team to team. It’s got to be difficult to keep your confidence up.