Meet Luke “Lights Out” Louis, my closer in the Texas Rangers’ system. Pitching for the Frisco Rough Riders, he was anything but lights out. The big problem he had was with batters hitting the ball right back up the middle, one after another. He finished his first year in Double-A, but pitched just well enough (3.03 ERA with 32 Ks in 21 games) to get a spring training invite with the parent club.

He came up and had a decent first appearance, but his second game was a save situation. The pressure was on! He gave up two quick hits to put runners on second on third, but struck out the next two hitters to bring up what could be the last batter, or possibly the winning run.

Luke was Lights Out and slammed the door with another K. The Angels never knew what hit ‘em. Luke only has a fastball and a slider, and neither is very accurate, but he’s learning. Maybe one day he’ll truly live up to his nickname.