Baker's patience pays off with call to Majors

This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PITTSBURGH -- Amidst the doom and gloom of another lost weekend for the Cardinals -- this time in the form of a three-game sweep at the hands of the vastly improved Pirates -- a ray of sunshine splashed into the clubhouse in the form of 6-foot-4, 280-pound rookie Luken Baker.

Baker arrived in Pittsburgh for his MLB debut after having toiled in the Minor Leagues for five seasons. Because he was blocked at first base by reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, Baker was mostly a forgotten and overlooked figure in the Cardinals' organization for years, even though he is roughly the size of an NFL left tackle.

But a funny thing happened this season for the 26-year-old rookie: Baker hit his way onto the MLB roster by authoring his finest season at a time when the Cardinals were desperate to find someone -- anyone, really -- who could drive the ball over the wall and deep into the gaps.

“It did surprise me,” Baker said of the call that he was headed to the Major Leagues. “From the time [Triple-A Memphis manager Ben Johnson] made the lineup change to when he called me into the office, there was 10 to 15 minutes, so there was a little bit of buffer time for it to set in. So, it was really special.”

Baker, a second-round compensatory pick by the Cardinals in the 2018 Draft, forced the organization’s hand by leading the International League in home runs (18) and RBIs (53). But anyone who has ever watched the show Baker can put on in batting practice, with the majestic bombs he hits, always knew he could mash baseballs. Baker impressed more by greatly exceeding his career .257 batting average by slashing .313/.434/.641 with nearly as many walks (43) as strikeouts (53).

Patience at the plate -- much like the patience Baker exhibited in the Minors with 26- and 21-homer seasons and no callup -- helped him push his way into the conversation as a potential designated hitter for the Cards. Finally, that allowed him to escape Goldschmidt’s enormous shadow at first base.

“When you have a guy like [Goldschmidt] here, I knew I would have to do something pretty unique to have a chance to come up here and help this club win,” Baker said. “It feels pretty cool being in the lineup with a guy like that, too.”

During Spring Training, when Baker was showing signs of being able to take his game to the next level with some elite-level hitting, manager Oliver Marmol worked to make sure the big man didn’t have his spirits broken by his path to the big leagues seemingly being blocked.

“It was a very direct conversation. He handled it well, and to his credit, he went out there and got after it,” Marmol recalled. “There are certain times in a player’s career when they’re blocked, you can get in the mentality of, ‘I’m just going to sit here in Triple-A,’ and you lose the edge. You ask, ‘How am I going to get there [to the big leagues]?’ instead of saying, ‘Watch me get there.’ You hit enough and people will find you a spot.”

Baker hit enough in his first MLB game, singling twice on a day when the Cardinals were limited to five hits and one run. He said he probably benefited from first pitch being at 11:35 am local time, so that he didn’t have too long to get nervous.

Now, as fate would have it, Baker’s new MLB career takes him to his home state of Texas and not far from where he and wife, Linda, recently started building a home in suburban Dallas. Seven family members mobilized quickly to get to Pittsburgh on Sunday for his MLB debut. As for this week in Texas, he said, “I don’t know, 40 [friends and family] might be light.”

Baker said the reality of his MLB debut compared favorably to the way he dreamed it would be hundreds of times before. Now, though, he thinks he has the right game plan and mindset to be successful and stick at the big league level for a long time.

“I think if this were to happen any other year before this one, I feel like it might have been different. Now, I feel prepared and ready and I had a pretty good day,” Baker said. “Fortunately, I didn’t feel [nerves] too much. It was just more about being ready to go.”