Are there any thoughts on Josh Lester?

[oriolediehard]

Josh Lester is tearing up spring training. I would like to know anyone's thoughts on him.

[Jagwar]

Jon Lester was the debbil in a Red Sox uniform

Josh Lester however is having a good Spring for the O's

[OriolesMagic83]

1 hour ago, Jagwar said:

Jon Lester was the debbil in a Red Sox uniform

Josh Lester however is having a good Spring for the O's

I saw the name  Jon Lester I thought shouldn't he have retired a while ago.

[Three Run Homer]

Looks like a minor league power hitter with poor K/BB ratios and a low batting average.   He'll probably be a fan favorite in Norfolk.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

Nothing about Josh Lester's minor league resume suggests he'll have an MLB career of any length. Lester will play at Norfolk and if he tears it up maybe he gets a cup of coffee with the Orioles.

[wildcard]

The question I have on Lester, Cordero, Diaz and O'Hearn is who has an opt out?

[RZNJ]

17 minutes ago, wildcard said:

The question I have on Lester, Cordero, Diaz and O'Hearn is who has an opt out?

O’Hearn and Diaz do not.  Cordero most like does but my guess is that his opt out is not as soon as Mazara’s.   Mazara probably has an opt out end of this month.  Cordero probably around June 1.   O’Hearn is on a guaranteed ML contact, passed through waivers, and either couldn’t declare FA or declined it to maintain is 1.4M salary.   The Orioles can keep him in Norfolk all year if they want.   Diaz passed through waivers.  He’s like any other minor leaguer in the system.  They can keep him in Norfolk indefinitely as well.  Same with Daz Cameron.  I do not know about Lester but I doubt as a 28 yo career minor leaguer that he had enough leverage to get an opt out when he signed, but it’s possible.

Edited March 14, 2023 by RZNJ

[wildcard]

15 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

O’Hearn and Diaz do not.  Cordero most like does but my guess is that his opt out is not as soon as Mazara’s.   Mazara probably has an opt out end of this month.  Cordero probably around June 1.   O’Hearn is on a guaranteed ML contact, passed through waivers, and either couldn’t declare FA or declined it to maintain is 1.4M salary.   The Orioles can keep him in Norfolk all year if they want.   Diaz passed through waivers.  He’s like any other minor leaguer in the system.  They can keep him in Norfolk indefinitely as well.  Same with Daz Cameron.  I do not know about Lester but I doubt as a 28 yo career minor leaguer that he had enough leverage to get an opt out when he signed, but it’s possible.

Elias would probably want to keep as many of them as he can in the O's organization.  And opt out may be an edge to keep whoever has it on the 26 man roster.  

[Sports Guy]

2 hours ago, wildcard said:

Elias would probably want to keep as many of them as he can in the O's organization.  And opt out may be an edge to keep whoever has it on the 26 man roster.  

You don’t need all of them and Kjerstad’s emergence could be a factor as well.

These are dime a dozen guys that fans be found if you shake a tree. No reason to be worried about losing any of them.

[bpilktree]

He has two triples today.  I have no idea how he has two triples he doesn't look like a fleet of foot guy.  His numbers have been pretty decent the last couple years since the pandemic.  I wonder if there was a swing change over that period.  

[bpilktree]

Apparently Josh Lester is a Little League World Champion and was a star at Williamsport where his Georgia Little League team beat Japan for the Little league title.  

[bpilktree]

 

[LA2]

1 hour ago, bpilktree said:

He has two triples today.  I have no idea how he has two triples he doesn't look like a fleet of foot guy.  His numbers have been pretty decent the last couple years since the pandemic.  I wonder if there was a swing change over that period.  

If you look at the video highlights on mlb.com you'll see that both triples were misplayed. The first was off the tip of the glove of the CFer diving after circling in too wide (announcers on that one said the outfield play in general has been bad, perhaps due to inability to deal with crosswinds), and then it rolled off to the left past the LFer.

The second took an acute-angle carom off the fence in the RF foul area that the outfielder running over guessed completely wrong. It rolled a lot before he cd turn around and get to it. And yes, you're right: during the quick cuts of him rounding the bases, he did not look fleet at all, rather slow in fact.

Edited March 14, 2023 by LA2

[CharmCityHokie]

Just looking at his BBRef page, going all the way back to his college days, he's definitely the odd-duck among the Cordero/Mazara/O'Hearn/Diaz scrum. I'm taking his luck in ST with quite a bit of salt. If I had to guess, I'll bet it's between O'Hearn and Cordero if they choose to go the NRI bench bat route.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=lester000jos

[Tony-OH]

The fact that we have a Lester/Cordero/Mazara/O'Hearn/Diaz/Vavra competition just highlights why you don't select O'Hearn off waivers and have to guarantee him $1.4 million even after DFAing him.