Memphis Redbirds and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Luken Baker gets candid about baseball career

Luke and Baker. Are you a baker? Sometimes? Sometimes? Ok. Always, not always in the kitchen. Step. One pretty easy. Step, one pre heat the oven. Um I've never used one like this before. We might need some help. We're off to a great start baking. Obviously, you're following a recipe and like steps when you step up to the plate, is that like similar? When you go through each at that, like you're following a bunch of steps. There are things that I do every time I go up to the plate, but the plan really all depends on who you're facing. So if I'm facing a guy that I feel real comfortable against the plan might be a little different than someone, I'm not. So it's uh not really so much as baking. This is a lot easier of a plan. Half a cup of white sugar just seems like a drastic amount. Well, how are they supposed to taste good if they're not sweet? I guess you need the sugar. That's a good point. That's a good point. So when did you kind of like fall in love with baseball as a kid? My parents did a good job of making sure of, of getting me and my sisters to do as much as we could. And I just, baseball is just what, it's just what I ended up liking the most. Like there was one day when I was, I probably around 12 years old where, or I guess a week where my dad didn't take me to the cages at all. And is that about half a cup? A little bit more? Nothing wrong with too much sweetness. And I went up to him and I said, why haven't you asked me to go to the cages at all? He always, you know, every week, a couple times a week, he'd come up and say, hey, let's go to the cages, let's go to the cages, let's go hit, let's go field. And I say, why didn't you ask me? He said, well, at this point, I want to see if you really want to play and I guess that's when I decided that I liked baseball the best. Alright, so we're gonna mix that into a well combined. So it's all yours. This is, I feel you can put like probably almost as hard as like the contact that you have to when you a baseball hitting that, that the butter wasn't melted, maybe probably tougher when the butter's not melted. That is crushed. Luke and Baker, a home run and TCU has the lead out of high school. You obviously chose to, to go to TCU and then pursue that. But you did get drafted, what went into that choice? I had to go and, and go to college instead of going straight to, you know, playing in baseball professionally. So I just felt like the benefits and the value of me going to school outweighed me going and playing professional baseball right out. And, you know, I, I did have the opportunity to go straight into professional baseball, but even the best baseball players are done when they're 40 years old. You know, and that's not even, hopefully not even half your life. I figured I'd rather set myself up in a better situation for the rest of my life. And at TCU, I had two season ending injuries that tore my arm up and tore my leg up. And if you were to tell me that I would do that before I even went, I would make the all over again. Met some of my best friends. I met my wife. I got as close to a degree as I could, but it's, uh, it's something that I would never take back. The Cardinals drafted Baker out of TC in the second round of the 28 draft. What was that moment like? And why did that feel like the right time to then go and join baseball instead of staying another year? I felt like I'd done what I needed to do in school. And at TC and I was ready to take the next step in my baseball career. And unfortunately, uh when I was drafted, I had a broken leg. So there were a lot of teams that were, weren't so keen on drafting me early enough in the draft. So it was, it was pretty stressful that situation. But I ended up, you know, coming to an organization that historically has been really good and, and they do, you know everything that I've heard about them, they do a great job and it's, it ended up being a good situation for me and a good opportunity and I wasn't gonna say no, I wouldn't be saying no. Were you, how, uh, how would you rate, how you kinda, it says one and three quarter cups. I was gonna, I was gonna measure by just like doing a three quarter of this cup, but I could go to the actual three quarter cup. I trust you. It's not a good thing to be doing in the kitchen, but I appreciate you trusting me. How would you kind of judge your, I guess, progression through the minors? I mean, obviously you want to go quicker, you always want to go faster than you do. I've learned a lot of lessons. I feel like I've gotten a lot better as a baseball player. I feel like, you know, it's, it's not the exact path that I wanted to take, but it's, uh, I'm not gonna tell you, it's been terrible. You know, it's, uh, I've really enjoyed it. There's, there's some things that I wish would change sometimes I wish I would have played a little bit better. But, you know, at this point I feel like I've learned enough and done enough and gotten better enough to be in the point where I am. Here's a guy in his first major league at Bat. Luke and Baker singles into right field for a base hit last year. You obviously got that moment, that call to go and play in the majors for the first time. How did you find out? And, and what was that moment like for you? We were playing in Omaha and got to the field one day and the lineup was posted about an hour after we had been there. Ben Johnson, our manager came through the clubhouse and said there was a lineup change and, you know, he, I I was taken out of the lineup, so I sort of had a clue. And, uh about 10 minutes later, he called me into the office and the coaching staff was there and, you know, he, he gave me the news and, and it was awesome hearing that news from him because I've been with them, you know, at this 0.3 years. But at that point, I had been with him for two years and he had been a really great coach to me and, you know, taught me a lot of things and helped me in that way. And so that was really neat. You've done very well on the stirring. I appreciate that. I'm glad you uh took control of that one. So as long as dough should be soft and a little sticky but not over sticky. Yeah, I was gonna say, how do we judge the consistency of the stickiness? And then this is the best part, right? Stirring the chocolate chips. You know, usually I'm one to take the dough to myself, but I don't know how much I trust my baking skills. So I might leave this all to you. I feel so honored by that uh beautiful gesture of yours. It's very, very kind that ball is hammered to left field by Luke and Baker and you played 33 games last year in the MLB, what did you kind of think of your performance up there? It got better, you know, it was, it was the first time in my life that I really not played baseball, you know, didn't play every day. So it was, it was a tough transition and, you know, pinch hitting coming off the bench playing every few days instead of every day. And I think I let that get in my head a little bit, you know, trying to do too much and prove that I'm supposed to be there. But as I was there longer and I got more comfortable in what I was doing and in my daily routine and everything and realized that, you know, it's the same game, the, you know, you hit the ball, you throw the ball, you catch the ball. And I feel like towards the end of towards the end of the season, I started doing a lot better. Yeah, you finished the season up. There was the expectation kind of this off season. Ok. I'm gonna start the season up there as well. Yeah, I mean, that's always the expectation for me is to do everything I can in the off-season to prepare to do what I can to be on that team and help that team win and, you know, I'm here right now. So all I can do is be where my feet are and keep trying to play. Well. I don't know if I made them too big or if I'm taking up too much room breaking ball in the air deep down the left field line. Number 71 3, home runs away from tying the record four from setting a zone. I'm sure you hate talking about this, but the home run record, it's approaching that one in the air. It's rocketed deep to center field. He's two home runs away from tying the record. Is that something coming into the season you knew and were thinking about or is that more? Everyone's just telling you that it's near, um, more everyone just telling me, obviously AAA home run records aren't the thing that you strive for, in professional baseball. But if I'm gonna, you know, be in the situations that I've been in, for me to have success in that way and, you know, do the things that I'm supposed to do here. It is, it is pretty neat. It, it will be a cool thing to, to accomplish. It's never really on the front of my mind because it's never really been, you know, the thing that I'm chasing. So I, you know, I, I don't feel any, I don't step up to the plate thinking all right, I have to, you know, I have to get to this record. It's, uh, but it is a pretty neat, neat thing to have happened. Should we check in? Let's do it. I'll go bottom row. Yeah. Sounds good. Yeah. Nice. Good start. How long do they have to bake for 7 to 10? Do you like them crispy or soft? I thought you want them a little soft, right? A little bit. Yeah. But then like golden brown, that one in the air towards centers he's won from tying the record if you tied the home run record. So you just need one more to break it and they call you and they say, hey, we need to you in the Cardinals. Is there a part of you? Maybe that's like, oh, can you just give me one more game? No part of me? No part of me if I never had another chance to break the record, I'd be ok with that shows. Like, I mean, just how much paying in the majors means to you. Which is awesome. That's the ultimate goal. That's the pinnacle baseball. So, it's, you know, records are cool. But, you know, playing at that level is w here we go, let's see what they look like. Yeah, it was pretty decent. Right. Not too bad. Here we go. Good enough to take home I think. I'm pretty damn good. Yeah. Are these good enough to take, so take home. Are you taking them to the guys in the dugout? I'll take as many to the field that I don't take home. So none. Ok. That's, hey, we did. Good. So you are more than just a baseball player. You live up to your last name. You can keep the last name on the back of your jersey. I can bake cookies.