Luke Bard

BIOGRAPHY

Luke Francis Bard is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball. He made his MLB debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. Bard attended Charlotte Christian School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he played college baseball for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Minnesota Twins selected Bard in the first round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. He signed and made his professional debut that same year with the GCL Twins before being reassigned to the Elizabethton Twins. 

Luke Bard signed with Los Angeles Angels as minor league free agent, Feb. 18, 2019. Bard's older brother, Daniel, is also a major league baseball player. His cousin, John Andreoli, is also a professional baseball player.

Luke Bard opened the 2017 season with Double-A Chattanooga. He pitched more than one inning in 20 of 33 appearances for Lookouts.  During the 25 game stretch from Apr. 27-July 29, he went 3-1 with four saves and a 1.33 ERA with 60 strikeouts and 12 walks. His ERA ranked third in Southern League in that span. He pitched two innings on May 13 vs. Birmingham and recorded all six outs via strikeout. He did not allow a run in 10 of 11 appearances from May 24-July 4 and held opponents to a .190 batting average against in that span. Luke was  promoted to Triple-A Rochester on Aug. 7. He recorded at least two strikeouts in each of final six relief appearances and tossed 1.2 innings-or-more in five of eight appearances for Red Wings.

In 2018, he made his Major League Baseball debut with the Los Angeles Angels on March 31, 2018 at Oakland after being acquired by Halos from Twins in Rule 5 Draft in Dec. 2017. He appeared in eight games in relief for Angels last season, before being designated for assignment on Apr. 21 and returned to Twins organization. He pitched the remaining of the year for Triple-A Rochester, making 32 appearances and averaging 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings.