Luke Ritter

Lucas Aaron Ritter

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 187 lb.
• School Wichita State University
• High School Rockhurst High School

• Born February 17, 1997 in Minneapolis, MN USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Luke Ritter has played at AAA and for Team USA.

Ritter was All-State as a high school senior, hitting .473. He also set the school record for tackles in football. Prep Baseball Report rated him the #1 high school second baseman in Kansas. He batted .272/.372/.373 as a college freshman, .223/.349/.349 as a sophomore and .341/.420/.484 with 56 runs in 55 games as a junior. He was one run behind American Athletic Conference leader Alec Bohm. His hometown Minnesota Twins took him in the 37th round of the 2018 amateur draft and he did not sign.

As a college senior, he hit .333/.458/.545 and led the AAC with 16 HBP (his 36 HBP finished second in school history). The New York Mets selected him in the 7th round of the 2019 amateur draft and he signed for a $10,000 bonus. The scout was Nathan Beuster.

He made his pro debut with the Brooklyn Cyclones, batting .245/.351/.371. He tied for 9th in the New York-Penn League with 15 doubles, tied Bryan Lavastida for 6th in runs (39), was 9th in RBI (36), was 7th in walks (33, between Blake Sabol and Garrett Hiott) and led second basemen with 29 double plays. The 2020 minor league season was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Oddly, he was back with Brooklyn in 2021 but that was because that he had moved up from low-A to high-A, batting .232/.311/.436 with 14 homers.

Ritter split 2022 between the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (.215/.322/.386 in 100 G) and Syracuse Mets (.160/.269/.266 in 26 G), now being used as a utility infielder. He went deep 15 times that summer but struck out 165 times. He tied Travis Blackenhorn for 8th in the Mets chain in dingers, tied for 8th in RBI and trailed only Carlos Dominguez in strikeouts. In the Arizona Fall League, he batted only .146/.290/.271 for the Peoria Javelinas.

With Syracuse in '23, he improved to .247/.360/.448 in 64 games. He also hit .240/.389/.569 in 43 games for Binghamton. For the summer, he had 68 runs, 27 home runs and 67 walks. Among Mets farmhands, only Jett Williams and Ronny Mauricio scored more runs and he hit the most dingers (four ahead of Mauricio and Stanley Consuegra). Only Mauricio and Brandon McIlwain had more RBI and only Williams and Wyatt Young drew more walks.

2024 was his first full season in AAA and he did fine at .257/.369/.480 with 80 runs, 25 doubles, 26 homers, 93 RBI and 73 walks while bouncing between 1B, 2B, 3B and LF (20-42 games at each position). He was second in their minor league organization in runs (10 behind Luisangel Acuña), 4th in doubles, again led in home runs (7 ahead of Ryan Clifford and Jeremiah Jackson), led in RBI (25 more than Clifford) and was second in walks (22 behind Clifford). In the 2024 IL, he was 8th in runs, tied Blaneknhorn for third in home runs, was one RBI behind leader Johnathan Rodríguez and tied Kameron Misner for 5th in walks.

While that did not earn him a ticket to the majors that summer, he did make the US team for the 2024 Premier 12. He batted third and started at 2B in their opener against Puerto Rico, retired by Jonathan Bermúdez his first time up. His first hit was a double off Rubén Ramírez. With Termarr Johnson taking over at second, he moved to first for their other games. He hit a homer off Kaj Timmermans of the Netherlands the next game and finished at .188/.235/.344 with six walks, five runs and two RBI in nine contests for the Bronze Medal winners. He handled 76 chances error-free. He was tied for second in the event in walks (one behind Carson Williams) and led in strikeouts (13, one ahead of teammates Williams, Colby Thomas and Ryan Ward). Only catchers Shogo Sakakura and Carlos Perez had more putouts.