Scott bringing firepower to Baltimore

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Map, News) - Depending on the situation, Luke Scott is armed and ready as the Orioles’ gun-toting, Bible-packing left fielder.

Ask about the seeming conflict between weaponry and faith, he sounds a lot like a preacher — or in some quarters, the perfect Republican.

“I have the Bible as my tool on how to live my life. He wants us to live in peace, to love thy neighbor and treat those as we want to be treated...At the same time, God does let us know with his word that this is a fallen world. It’s imperfect. To walk around in Fairy Tale Land saying that nothing will ever happen to me, that everything is great, grand and wonderful, it’s not true.”

So if you’re a thug out on the streets of Baltimore, you don’t mess around with Luke, who is licensed to carry a gun.

“What are you gonna do,” he said. “There’s some lunatic people out there, people who are on crank, on drugs, that are crazy. They rob people for what they have.... As a Christian man, I try to stay away from that. If I can get away, I get away. At the same time, it doesn’t require us to be pushovers, to not defend ourselves. You’re allowed to defend yourself.”

But what about the fastball? The curveball? The change-up?

Luke Scott also has a book for that — a ledger he keeps up through every game, writing down what pitchers offer him in any situation.

“The pitcher, the score of the game and the situation, if there’s runners in scoring position or not. It’s a detailed document,” he said. “When I was with the Indians, they made us do this. It helped me develop a plan, it helped me go up there prepared, instead of going up to the box and not having an idea of what I wanted to do or how he’s going to pitch me...You can learn a lot, you can see probabilities. It gives you just a little edge.”

Scott, 29, was born and raised in Florida, where his father worked as a brick mason and his mother a waitress until turning her efforts to caring for Scott’s grandparents.

The desire to play baseball came before religion, at least in childhood.

“My mother, when she asked me what I wanted to do as a young boy, like 8 years old... and I said, ‘Play in the major leagues.’ Well, she said, ‘Someone has to do it, it may as well be you.’ Then she would tell me that if you want to get there it’s going to take hard work. You have got to practice excellence in all that you do. Start with your schoolwork and your chores and how you treat people.”

The religion got serious while Scott was attending — and enjoying the student lifestyle — at Oklahoma State University, where his mother hooked him up with a minister to help him find a more virtuous path.

You only have to ask a simple question about faith to hear how that turned out, or witness his heavenward gesture of appreciation for a hit.

Drafted and signed by Cleveland in 2001, Scott played in the Indians organization until being traded to Houston in 2004. Progressing through the Astros‚ minor league system, he made his Major League debut at Houston in 2005 after a sizzling spring training performance — only to lose his job and be sent back to Triple-A after an 0-for-20 slump less than a few weeks later.

He had a late-season call-up, then divided his time in 2006 with the Triple-A Round Rock Express and the Astros. His first full year with Houston was last season, and in February, he was sent to Baltimore as part of the multi-player trade for Oriole shortstop Miguel Tejada.

Scott has the most experience among the three non-pitchers acquired by the Orioles in either the Tejada and Erik Bedard trades — the others being Adam Jones, who will start the season as the everyday center fielder, and infielder Mike Costanzo, who was sent to Triple-A Norfolk.

In his 231 games with the Astros, Scott hit .273 with 28 home runs, which is roughly one for every 25 official at-bats.

“I have goals and dreams,” Scott said in a recent interview during spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. “I enjoy the game of baseball. I don’t want to be average, I want to be the best I can. I want to be very good at it. But as far as my future, I focus on my relationship with Him. It’s a day-to-day walk.... He’ll map everything out and guide me in what I need to do.”

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