Nathan Lukes wastes no time rewarding Blue Jays for another look in the big leagues

Nathan Lukes hasn't had the season he likely envisioned for himself when the Toronto Blue Jays kicked off spring training in February. He has only played in three games in the majors this season but has made the most of his opportunity.

Since being recalled on Aug. 30, the 30-year-old outfielder has proven to the Blue Jays that he can play and produce in the big leagues, although it has been an extremely small sample size.

Nathan Lukes wastes no time rewarding Blue Jays for another look in the big leagues

In 14 plate appearances as the Jays' starting left fielder, Lukes is 5-for-11 with a double and a triple counted among his hits. He has struck out just once and while he went 0-for-2 in his last game, he collected three walks in five plate appearances in Sunday's finale against the Minnesota Twins.

His weekend in Minnesota also included a couple of impressive defensive plays in the outfield in his first game, which didn't go unnoticed by his teammates.

“Shows up, this is his first day here and, really, made two great plays,” Kevin Gausman said after Lukes' two grabs in support of the Toronto starter, per Sportsnet's David Singh. “That's the type of player he is. That's the game that he brings — exceptional defender. It's always nice when you can bring a guy up and he can make a play like that.”

Again, even taking the small sample size into consideration, Lukes looks to be picking up where he left off in spring training. Early in March, it looked like Lukes had the inside track to be the team's fourth outfielder with a strong Grapefruit League campaign.

He finished the spring hitting .450 with a 1.100 OPS and showed his keen eye at the plate, walking as much as he struck out at a 10.9 percent clip. But instead of breaking camp with the team, he headed to Triple-A Buffalo, where he posted a .333/.406/.480 slash line in 44 games.

Perhaps the only thing that stopped him from being called up to the big club sooner was the fact that he landed on the injured list in June with a thumb injury. After surgery to repair the UCL in his left thumb, he didn't get back into game action until Aug. 10. When he slashed .333/.385/.417 with a home run in 10 Triple-A games, the Blue Jays obviously decided that he deserved another look.

Now, even after the impressive start to his MLB season, the question is, will he get enough playing time to prove he belongs on a team auditioning for 2025? According to Singh, manager John Schneider has indicated that Lukes "will get a chance to play."

Although, without much major league job security and options to spare, the career minor leaguer will have to continue producing to get noticed among all the young talent the Blue Jays will be featuring on the field this September.