Josh Lester

28-Year-Old First Baseman1B
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Lester made his MLB debut in 2022 after turning heads for Triple-A Toledo. With the Mud Hens, he recorded 29 home runs and 99 RBI across 145 games. That earned him a promotion in September, and Lester proceeded to go 0-for-5 in two games with the Tigers. The 28-year-old was a 13th-round pick in 2015 and has bounced around the minors the past few seasons. Lester doesn't have a ton of prospect pedigree, but his power production in 2022 could earn him a longer look. The Tigers head into 2023 with top prospect Spencer Torkelson penciled in as the starter at first base, while veteran Miguel Cabrera is primed for one more campaign as a DH. When Cabrera hangs it up, there could be an opportunity for Lester to emerge if he keeps hitting the ball out of the park. He figures to begin the 2023 season at Triple-A again but is an option to fill in if needed. Read Past Outlooks
$Signed a one-year contract with the Orioles in December of 2022.
Selected from Triple-A
1BBaltimore Orioles
June 3, 2023
The Orioles selected Lester's contract from Triple-A Norfolk on Saturday.
ANALYSIS
With Danny Coulombe landing on the bereavement list Saturday, Lester will join the Orioles in his place. Lester hasn't done much in his major-league career -- he's 0-for-5 with three strikeouts -- but he's slashing .282/.339/.549 through 206 plate appearances in Triple-A this year. He'll likely serve as a bench piece in Baltimore, but his defensive versatility could allow him to enter the lineup every once in a while.
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Batting Stats
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2023
2022
2023 MLB Game Log
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Scoring
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2021
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2022
No Stats
2021
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2021vs Left .000 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Since 2021vs Right .286 7 0 0 2 0 .143 .143 .143
2023vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023vs Right .667 3 0 0 2 0 .333 .333 .333
2022vs Left .000 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2022vs Right .000 4 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2021vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2021
 
 
-100%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
-100%
OPS on Road
2022
No Stats
2021
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2021Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Since 2021Away .250 8 0 0 2 0 .125 .125 .125
2023Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023Away .667 3 0 0 2 0 .333 .333 .333
2022Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022Away .000 5 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2021Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Stat Review
How does Josh Lester compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.00
 
BB Rate
0.0%
 
K Rate
33.3%
 
BABIP
.500
 
ISO
.000
 
AVG
.333
 
OBP
.333
 
SLG
.333
 
OPS
.667
 
wOBA
.297
 
Exit Velocity
93.8 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
0.0%
 
Barrels/PA
0.0%
 
Expected BA
.261
 
Expected SLG
.361
 
Sprint Speed
 
Ground Ball %
50.0%
 
Line Drive %
50.0%
 
Fly Ball %
0.0%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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More Fantasy News
Sent to minors camp
1BBaltimore Orioles
March 27, 2023
The Orioles reassigned Lester to minor-league camp Monday, Jacob Calvin Meyer of The Baltimore Sun reports.
ANALYSIS
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Two triples Tuesday
1BBaltimore Orioles
March 15, 2023
Lester went 3-for-4 with two triples, one RBI and one run scored in Tuesday's Grapefruit League win over the Pirates.
ANALYSIS
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Joins Baltimore
1BBaltimore Orioles
December 6, 2022
Lester signed a minor-league contract with the Orioles on Tuesday, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Cast off 40-man roster
1BDetroit Tigers
November 9, 2022
The Tigers outrighted Lester to Triple-A Toledo on Wednesday.
ANALYSIS
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Sent down Thursday
1BDetroit Tigers
September 8, 2022
Lester was optioned to Triple-A Toledo on Thursday.
ANALYSIS
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