Public Service Announcement - Yes, Potatoes Can Explode

Recipes for baked potatoes always say to poke holes in them pre-baking to keep them from exploding. I saw this as an "old wives tale." I have been baking potatoes for decades without poking them and never had a problem.
Well, now I have. I was grilling some ribs on the Traeger and tossed a couple of potatoes in with them. After they got soft I moved them to a cutting board I was carrying.
Suddenly there was a very loud pop as the center of one of the potatoes basically disintegrated. There were bits of shattered potato covering the board, my arm, the grill and the floor. The force of the explosion blew the other potato off the board and it hit the ground and broke open.
Lesson learned, I guess.