Luke and Willy Taveras are close friends. As Cleveland Indians prospects, the two began rooming together in 2002, along with three more Latin players: Carlos De La Cruz, Oscar Alvarez, and Mariano Gomez. Scott and Taveras agreed to speak each other's native languages and provide pointers along the way.

"I would talk to him in Spanish and he'd talk to me in English, and we'd help each other out," Scott said. "He'd ask questions like, 'What do people mean when they say this?'"

From that, a close friendship developed between the two. During 2004 spring training, they lived with Ezequiel Astacio and Wandy Rodriguez.

"I had a stretch there where I didn't use it much," Scott said. "Once I became roommates with Willy, I started using it more and more."

Scott said he relied on his faith to get him through the tough times he experienced being stuck in the minors. He read Bible passages each night to give himself strength.

"I could choose to be angry and complain about it and throw a fit or tell them that I wasn't happy with the situation, or I could just say 'OK I'm going to be professional,' " he said. "Now was a chance to show them what I'm made of and show myself what I'm made of."

Before 2005 spring training, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook ranked Scott as #17 in the Houston farm system. And in the spring of 2006, they rated Luke as 15th-best prospect in the Astros' organization.

One offseason, Scott didn't play ball at all in Venezuela, but went there anyway, spending time working with kids who had been abandoned.

"Being a professional ballplayer, the kids look up to you," Luke said. "They have been rejected. God brings me there to give them hope."

Scott also gave them baseball equipment and donated money and signed balls that could be raffled off to raise money for the children in hopes that it could help enable them to lead healthy and prosperous lives.

Before 2006 spring training, while playing for Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League, Scott hit .345 with 12 home runs in 119 at-bats.

On July 28, 2006, Scott hit for the cycle, and the home run was his first in the Major Leagues. After he hit the homer, Scott said he remembered very little, except that his cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. The magnitude of the entire evening, however, didn't hit him until he got home and thought about the events.

"I said, 'Man, did that really happen?" Scott said. "I woke up in the morning, and I thought it was a dream, honestly."

Luke is not married.

Scott drives himself. Just as he often devotes himself to others as a missionary for God, he also drives himself to get the most of his baseball playing ability.

"My desire is to excel at whatever I do," Luke said. "I am a Type-A personality. I'm very persistent at what I do. I love the game of baseball, and I want to play well." (April 2008)

"He's like a little kid," said Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez of teammate Luke Scott. "He gets excited even when he gets a single. For him, he really loves the game. He'd play all day long—24 hours a day, he would play baseball. He's a great guy."

During visits to big league cities on road trips, Luke tries to soak up the local culture and discover what's unique about each place.

"I like to explore the city," Scott says, "and whatever it's known for."

That means eating ethnic food in some places or heading out to museums in other towns.

"I walk into stores," he says. "I walk into interesting museums and aquariums and things like that. And as you go around, you see different architecture and buildings."  (Louis Berney-Inside Pitch-July 31, 2008)

Scott always seems to be smiling. But he says he is very intense as a player.

"In my heart, I've got real deep, fiery-red passion to do well in this game. My goal in life is to take whatever God has given me—talents, abilities and opportunities—and always to honor Him and do the best I can for Him, and just be a blessing to those I'm around and those I represent," Luke said.

Now, Scott's offseasons are filled with hunting trips. It It could be West Texas. It could be Wyoming or Utah or Montana or New Mexico. There are only a few necessities.

"Peace, quiet, fresh air and nature," Scott says. "I like to get away from the bustle, just kind of escape from all the traffic and people and just get out there and have time to get up in the mountains, track a herd of elk, camp by a river, whatever. Just be."

Scott, an avid hunter and target shooter, spent some time this winter outside of the small town of Blackwell, Texas, near Abilene in the north-central part of the state. He hunted whitetail deer, fished and left baseball-related complications such as his arbitration eligibility up to his agent while wandering in and out of cell-phone reception.

"I was out there for about 10 days," Scott says. "I saw a lot of deer, and I didn't even take any. If the right one happened to step out, I would have taken it, but sometimes it's just relaxing and peaceful to be out there.

"I respect and admire God's creations."  (Doug Miller-MLB.com-1/29/10)

Scott and his brother learned to fish from their father and then honed their skills on their own. His mother and sister also fished.

"Those were priceless times, hanging out as a family, being out on the water together, telling stories," he said. "Being outdoors ... is a great way to relax, to get away from all the pressure. Peace and quiet and enjoying God's creations."

As a 10-year-old, Scott perfected a large-mouth bass fishing technique that, on paper, would seem doomed to fail. Sizing up a dock that had a protective wooden skirt at the water line, he decided there had to be fish underneath. Reaching under the water and jamming his rod up under the dock, he hit the release button on his reel and let the rubber worm float free. A few twitches of the line, and Scott suckered in one fish. A little while later, he scored another one.

"Whatever works, man," he said, laughing. "Put the bait in front of them and see what happens."  (Candy Thomson-Baltimore Sun-4/16/10)

Luke is a passionate right-wing patriot and a strong Christian believer. He believes in the right to bear arms and for freedom of speech. He is also not afraid to speak out on his beliefs.

"I'm pretty direct," Scott said.

He is also not how many liberals caricature white, right wingers who speak their minds without fear. In the Orioles locker room, his best friend is Felix Pie. Luke probably speaks as much Spanish as he does English and clearly prefers the company of his Latin teammates.

In 2010, during the dispute regarding President Obama's birth certificate, Scott said that Obama was not born in the United States. Scott added: "I was born here. If someone accuses me of not being born here, I can go -- within 10 minutes -- to my filing cabinet and I can pick up my real birth certificate and I can go, 'See? Look! Here it is. Here it is.' The man has dodged everything. He dodges questions, he doesn't answer anything. And why? Because he's hiding something."

Scott learned Spanish as a youngster in school.

"When we studied it in school, I just made an effort. It was before professional baseball."

He became fluent by rooming with the Latin players in the minor leagues and, yes, playing winter ball. In 2002, when he was playing his first pro season in Columbus, Ga., he lived with four Latin players in a two-bedroom apartment—two of them from the Dominican Republic, one from Venezuela, and one from Honduras.

"When I signed, I always lived with the Latins,'' he said. "The other guys, the high school players from the United States, they were used to their parents taking care of them, and I don't deal well with people being irresponsible. Truth is, my Latin teammates were more like me. They loved to cook instead of going out to eat. We worked together. We cleaned up together."

The daily interplay with Pie isn't always politically correct, but you won't hear anything but praise from his young protégé. Pie credits Scott with smoothing his assimilation in the O's clubhouse and helping him grow into a major league player. By all appearances, they couldn't be more different, but they have bonded in a very special way.

"I'm a right-winger," Scott said, "but I'm also a Christian man. I don't judge people by their culture or the color of their skin. If you look around the world, it's obvious that God likes variety. If he wanted everyone to be a certain way, he would have made us all the same."  (Peter Schmuck-Baltimore Sun-3/13/11)

A native of Florida, Scott is the odd—but refreshing—mix of Crocodile Dundee, Rush Limbaugh, and Elmer Gantry rolled into one. He's not going to shy away from offering his opinions, such as those percolated from the right-wing politics he embraces, but he doesn't hold it against you if you don't agree with his opinions. And he can express those opinions in English or Spanish, the languages he speaks fluently.

Scott caught everyone's attention at the outset of 2012 spring training when he brought two spears into the clubhouse—one for throwing, the other for close quarters while hog hunting. Upon seeing the spears two lockers down from his, Carlos Pena noted: "I know one thing: I don't want to make him mad."  (Bill Chastain-MLB.com-4/02/12)

Scott is a fun guy to be around. He has a lot of character and intelligence.

Luke's Christian beliefs are a part of his makeup, so he looked for God's help in his recovery from shoulder surgery during the 2011 season.

"I have to make sure that I do everything that is in my control to where I give him something he can work with," Scott said. "How much sleep I get, how I eat, how I do my rehab program. All those things and then from there, the doors can be opened."

Scott showed up on February 18, 2013 with the head of a wild boar which he killed, bringing it into the Rays spring training clubhouse. The stuffed head—complete with tusks—sat next to his locker, drawing looks and comments from his teammates.

Scott said he used a Zulu spear to kill the animal, which he said began to charge him before meeting its demise.

Luke's former teammate with the Astros in 2005-06, OF Orlando Palmeiro, introduced him to the drill of hitting balls off a tee with the two-by-four. At first Scott said he didn't know how it would help, but, since he said he's open to new ideas, he gave it a try.

Scott grips the 3-foot long two-by-four and swings this tool which is used to prevent Luke from turning over his wrists while reaching for a curveball or change-up. By not rolling his wrists, Scott said he can extend his swing by a few inches and better drive the ball up the middle or to the left-center-field gap and away from the over-shift he encounters during nearly every at-bat.

And Luke used the drill during the winter before the 2013 season quite successfully.


TRANSACTIONS

June 2001: The Indians chose Luke in the 9th round, out of Oklahoma State University. Scott signed with the Indians and scout Chad MacDonald.

March 31, 2004: The Astros sent P Jeriome Robertson to the Indians, acquiring Scott and OF Willy Taveras.

December 12, 2007: The Orioles sent SS Miguel Tejada to the Astros, acquiring Scott, 3B Michael Costanzo, and pitchers Matt Albers, Troy Patton, and Dennis Sarfate.

January 20, 2009: Luke and the Orioles avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $2.4 million contract.

January 19, 2010: Scott and the O's again avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $4.05 million contract.

December 12, 2011: The Orioles did not offer Luke a contract for the 2012 season, making him a free agent.

January 12, 2012: Scott and the Rays agreed on a one-year contract worth $5 million and allows for performance bonuses based on plate appearances, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney. The Rays hold a $6 million option for 2013, with a $1 million buyout, the source said.

On October 30, 2012, the Rays paid Luke the $1 million buyout, making him a free agent.

(Scott had come to the Rays fresh off right-shoulder surgery, which prevented him from full offseason workouts. Former Rays righthander James Shields—who shares the same agent as Scott—said he heard Scott was killing it in the gym this offseason and hopes to return to full form in 2013.

Scott could not be reached by phone, but he did text the following: "I am in California training. I will be unavailable for the next few days. I have to get back in the gym. Talk to you later. Have a blessed day.")

But on January 28, 2013, Scott rejoined the Rays.

December 19, 2013: Luke Scott headed to Korea to play for SK Wyverns in 2014.

May 14, 2015: The Toronto Blue Jays agreed to terms on a minor-league deal with Luke Scott.

Aug. 13, 2015: The Jays released Scott.