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PL Grand Junction Jackalopes

Luke Summers Joins the Rockies

April 11, 2022 - Pioneer League (PL)
Grand Junction Jackalopes News Release


Luke Summers spent a lot more time in a 2008 Mercury Milan than he or probably any other human being would have liked last summer.

Upon graduating from Fontbonne University in the spring of 2021, he was picked up by the West Virginia Black Bears of the newly formed MLB Draft League. So he packed up and drove the approximate 10 hours to Granville, WV.

Later in the summer, Luke drove home to St. Louis, another 10-hour trip. He was on his way back to West Virginia when he got a call from the Grand Junction Rockies offering him a spot on a professional baseball team. The catch? He would need to drive back to St. Louis and then another 16 hours on to Grand Junction.

If you're doing the math, that's at least 56 hours in the car in just a couple of weeks. But it landed Luke here in GJ with the Rockies in the end.

"I don't mind the drive," Summers said, " but kind of looking forward to staying in one place and just driving in buses."

Summers describes the Draft League as a bridge between his college years and playing professional ball, with the difficulty increasing with each step.

"There's more inconsistencies [in the draft league], so I had to make an adjustment coming to pro ball," Summers said. "It definitely got me ready for pro ball."

There were high expectations for Summers upon his arrival in Grand Junction. Talk of a fastball that could touch above 95 MPH and an ERA south of one his Junior year at Fontbonne in 2019.

The Luke Summers that arrived in Grand Junction wasn't that same guy. The fastball velocity was down, and he was getting hit.

The reason:

"Last year was rough for me," Summers said. "I was in a boot for eight weeks, and I rushed back from it, and I was trying to throw the baseball and tweaked my mechanics without realizing it."

Summers spent this offseason reworking those mechanics and progressing back towards the level he knows he can perform at.

"I've been working my butt off trying to get back to throwing how I know I can," Summers said. "I'm starting to get back into a rhythm."

With that return to normalcy in mind, Summers hopes to return to Suplizio Field, a different sort of pitcher in what he sees as his first proper season in professional baseball.

"I want to be a guy that can be relied on." Summers said, "Really no expectations because this is my first real year of pro ball. I just know I'm going to give it everything I've got every game."

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