Just stick the probe right in the tater hole, & good times happen!
It's cooking, so how hot & for how long makes the difference between undesirable & tasty.
For a tater, between undercooked & tough, proper temperature fluffy, and a couple degrees too hot & gooey.
Temperature of oven, too.
Many people unknowingly cook at the wrong temperature in the oven, because they haven't checked the accuracy of the oven temperature setting/dial.
Can be frustrating to put in the work & fail because the oven is lying to you.
The infrared laser thermometer gun is high tech. First day it arrived, I walked around measuring the temperature of everything: The living room wall, down my pants, frying pan for best temp for burgers, eggs, etc....my cat's butthole (92F), oven back wall, components in my computer, etc.
That, & a scale for measuring ingredients by weight instead of volume (especially flour for baking) makes a huge difference in quality of results.