"This is more than just a job. This is a childhood dream. This is what I’ve wanted to do from the moment I picked up a baseball." - Luke in The Los Angeles Times (03/30/2018, Jeff Miller, Angels reliever Luke Bard still adapting big-league life, Source)

Luke Francis Bard (born November 13, 1990 in Charlotte, NC) is a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played for the Los Angeles Angels.

The brother of big leaguer Daniel and son of minor leaguer Paul Bard, Luke was chosen by the Minnesota Twins in the supplemental first round of the 2012 amateur draft. He soon signed and made his pro debut that summer with the GCL Twins. On December 14, 2017, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 2017 Rule V Draft.

Luke made his major league debut with the Angels on March 31, 2018, pitching one scoreless inning in relief. He made 40 appearances for the Halos in the next two years, pitching to a 4.90 ERA in between being returned to the Twins and pitching in Triple A during the '18 season.

On April 22, 2019, Luke notched four strikeouts in the top of the fourteenth inning, the latest instance in Major League history. The Yankees who "helped" make it possible that day were Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Mike Tauchman & Kyle Higashioka.

His grandfather, Fran O'Brien, was head coach at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and College of the Holy Cross. His uncle, Kevin O'Brien, played minor league baseball. He is also a cousin of John Andreoli.

Luke is on Twitter @Luke_Bard.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)