Who is Yankees’ Luke Voit? How rookie went from SEC football to rising MLB star

Yankees first baseman Luke Voit talked about his old dreams of being a football star after homering again in Sunday night’s 5-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

BALTIMORE — Luke Voit looked like a big kid living in his own dream world the way he was celebrating his first Yankees home runs over the weekend at Oriole Park.

This brut of a first baseman mashed three of them starting three times in the Yankees’ four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, then celebrated all three like he had just hit a big homer in the Little League World Series.

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Voit smiled his way running around the bases with authority, then he made a beeline for the dugout and barreled his way from one end to the other high-fiving anyone in his path.

His teammates loved Voit’s antics almost as much as they enjoyed seeing this unproven late-summer trade acquisition start to take advantage of an opportunity that’s come about due to first baseman Greg Bird’s prolonged struggles.

“That’s just me being a little kid and having fun,” Voit said Sunday night after going 3-for-3 with a two-run homer and walk in a 5-3 Yankees win over the Birds. “If I’m not having fun, then there’s no point of me playing this game.”

Voit used to spill out all of this energy that he has on the football field when he was a fullback and middle linebacker in his native Wildwood, Mo., at Lafayette High, the same suburban St. Louis school that produced 2006 National League MVP Ryan Howard and 2011 World Series MVP David Freese.

When Voit would get a handoff and barrel his way into the secondary for a big gainer, Lafayette Lancer fans broke into the same chants that the huge turnout of Yankees faithful did over the weekend at Oriole Park …

LUUUUUUUUKE!

Hearing that always fired him up.

Still does.

What really got Voit’s juices flowing in high school was making tackles from his linebacker position, and he was good enough by his sophomore year to be getting recruiting letters from Division 1 schools with strong football programs.

Back then, playing college football for a big school was his only sports dream.

“A hundred percent,” Voit said. “I’m a big Missouri fan. I wanted to go to the SEC. I would have gone anywhere. I just wanted to go to a big school … Iowa, Michigan.”

Two serious shoulder injuries in two years crushed that dream, which led to his younger brother being the football star of the family. John Voit started at defensive tackle for three years at Army and was co-captain last year as a senior.

Luke Voit, 27, ended up coming up with a backup plan to make it big in sports. He starred in baseball in high school, too, starting all four years, the first three at first and third base, then catcher as a senior.

Voit was drafted by the Kansas City Royals his senior year, but not until the 32nd round, so he opted to attend college at Missouri State to major in criminology and play baseball.

Four years later, Voit was drafted again as a college senior by the hometown Cardinals in the 22nd round in 2013 (as a catcher), and four years after that he reached the big leagues for the first time (as a first baseman) in 2017.

Voit usually hit well in the minors, but he didn’t do much during his big-league opportunities with St. Louis. He got into 62 games last year and hit .246 with four homers, then hit .182 with a homer in eight games this year while bouncing back and forth between the big leagues and Triple-A before being traded to the Yankees on July 29 for relievers Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos.

At the time, it appeared the Yankees were just adding a potential bench player. Voit looked to be a carbon copy of Tyler Austin, a right-handed hitting first baseman with power who helped the Yankees early on this season before going to Triple-A and then to Minnesota in a trade a day after Voit was acquired.

The first impression that Voit made as a Yankee wasn’t good. He was called up a few days after his trade, was just 3-for-16 at the plate in five games, then quickly was back in Triple-A.

That’s where Voit got hot, as he hit .364 (8-for-22) in his first seven Triple-A games back with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to earn another call-up last week.

Voit pinch-hit twice for the Yankees in Miami, getting one hit, then started last Friday night in Baltimore for Bird and was 3-for-5 with two homers in a 10-inning, series-opening win. The next day, Voit started Game 1 of a day-doubleheader and was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and a walk.

Then on Sunday night, Voit hit another homer, singled twice and walked in four plate appearances, leaving him with a .379 average, three homers and nine RBI in 29 at-bats over 10 games as a Yankee.

This success probably is surprising to many Yankees fans and maybe even to the Yankees, but not to Voit.

“I know I can play,” he said. “Honestly, I’m having fun. I’m finally getting some at-bats and chances. I’ve never gotten that before. It could be luck, too. I know luck’s part of baseball, but I had a good weekend so I’ll keep going. But the big thing is we swept them and that’s great for us in the division and the wild card (races).”

Voit will keep getting opportunities if he keeps hitting because the Yankees need production at first base that hasn’t come from Bird, who is in an 0-for-17 slump that has his season average down to .199.

“I got (an opportunity) and didn’t do what I was supposed to do, then I came back up and got things rolling,” Voit said. ‘It’s nice to kind of see your name in the lineup the next day. It’s nice to get that streak going of getting some at-bats.”

Along with those at-bats, Voit is bringing energy to the Yankees, who suddenly are just six games behind the slumping Red Sox in the AL East standings after being 10 1/2 games back on Aug. 18.

“The big thing for me is try to be that upbeat guy in the locker room,” Voit said. “Maybe it’s that football guy in me. That was kind of my sport growing up until I had some injuries and stuff. But if I’m not out there having fun, take me away from this game. I want to bring enthusiasm because … why not? I enjoy having fun.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.