Joshua Benjamin Lester (born July 17, 1994) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

utility infielder for the

Sultanes de Monterrey The Sultanes de Monterrey (English: Monterrey Sultans) are a professional baseball club in the Mexican League (LMB) based in Monterrey, Mexico. Established in 1939 as Carta Blanca, the Sultanes have won ten LMB titles, most recently in 2018. Fro ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

Amateur career

A native of

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, Lester was part of the Columbus team that won the 2006 Little League World Series. After the win he was interviewed by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Erin Andrews Erin Jill Andrews (born May 4, 1978) is an American sportscaster and television personality. She rose to prominence as a correspondent on the American cable sports channel ESPN after joining the network in 2004. She later joined Fox Sports in 2 ...

and was in tears. Lester attended Columbus High School and the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the Missouri Tigers. In 2014, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Professional career

Detroit Tigers

The

selected Lester in the 13th round, with the 400th overall selection, of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, and he signed. After signing, he played for the rookie–level Gulf Coast League Tigers, Low–A Connecticut Tigers and the Single–A

West Michigan Whitecaps The West Michigan Whitecaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Comstock Park, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, and play their home games at LMCU Ballpar ...

, hitting .224 across 49 total games. In 2016, Lester split the year between Connecticut and West Michigan, playing in 79 games and slashing .262/.328/.369 with 2 home runs and 28 RBI. In 2017, Lester played for West Michigan and the High–A Lakeland Flying Tigers. He played in a total of 110 games, batting .272/.306/.439 with 13 home runs and 66 RBI. Lester spent the 2018 season with the Double–A Erie SeaWolves, playing in 127 contests and hitting .259/.346/.455 with career–highs in home runs (21) and RBI (75). In 2019, Lester played in 106 games for Double–A Erie, hitting .223/.290/.414 with 17 home runs and 54 RBI. He was promoted to the Triple–A Toledo Mud Hens late in the year, and hit .216 with 7 home runs and 13 RBI in 18 games. Lester did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He returned to action in 2021, and split the year between Double–A Erie and Triple–A Toledo. In 109 games, he accumulated a .263/.324/.587 batting line with 32 home runs and 78 RBI. Lester returned to Toledo for the 2022 season, playing in 145 games and hitting .246/.311/.469 with 29 home runs and a career–high 99 RBI. On September 4, 2022, Lester was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time following an injury to Miguel Cabrera. He made his Major League debut the next day. In two games for Detroit, Lester went 0–for–5 with 3 strikeouts. He was removed from the 40-man roster and sent outright to Triple-A on November 9, 2022. He elected minor–league free agency following the next day.

Baltimore Orioles

On December 6, 2022, Lester signed a minor league contract with the

organization. He was assigned to the Triple-A

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's loc ...

to begin the 2023 season, where he played in 52 games and hit .282/.339/.549 with 14 home runs and 50 RBI. On June 3, 2023, Lester had his contract selected to the major league roster after

Danny Coulombe Daniel Paul Coulombe (born October 26, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, and Baltimore Oriol ...

was placed on the bereavement list. On June 4, Lester recorded his first career hit, a two–run single off of

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

starter Anthony DeSclafani. In 11 games for Baltimore, he batted .182/.217/.182 with no home runs and 4 RBI. On July 19, Lester was designated for assignment by the Orioles following the acquisition of Shintaro Fujinami. He cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple–A Norfolk on July 26. On October 4, Lester elected free agency.

Kansas City Royals

On February 18, 2024, Lester signed a minor league contract with

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. In 116 appearances split between the Double–A

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. T ...

and Triple–A

Omaha Storm Chasers The Omaha Storm Chasers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. They are located in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb southwest of Omaha, Nebraska, Omah ...

, he batted a combined .259/.327/.450 with 18 home runs and 71 RBI. Lester elected free agency following the season on November 4.

Sultanes de Monterrey

On April 15, 2025, Lester signed with the

of the

. In 39 games Lester batted a .348 with 8 home runs and 31 RBI.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Josh 1994 births Living people Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from Columbus, Georgia Connecticut Tigers players Detroit Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players Gulf Coast Tigers players Lakeland Flying Tigers players Major League Baseball infielders Missouri Tigers baseball players Norfolk Tides players Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Omaha Storm Chasers players Toledo Mud Hens players West Michigan Whitecaps players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players