Josh

Lester

Lester was jettisoned from Baltimore’s 40-man roster after the Orioles acquired reliever Shintaro Fujinami last July. The 29-year-old slugger will serve as organizational depth for the Royals and can play both infield and outfield spots.

Lester went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment last week in the wake of Baltimore’s trade for reliever Shintaro Fujinami. The 29-year-old slugger will head to the minors to continue serving as extra organizational depth.

Lester has been jettisoned from Baltimore’s 40-man roster to make room for newly-acquired reliever Shintaro Fujinami. The 29-year-old slugger got into 11 games this season for the Orioles, batting .182 (4-for-22) with four RBI.

Lester heads back to the minors with Cedric Mullins returning from the injured list ahead of Saturday’s game against the Mariners.

Lester smacked a two-run single off of Anthony DeSclafani to cap off a six-run rally in the third inning. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the afternoon. The 28-year-old slugger started at third base in this one, and could see additional action there if Gunnar Henderson is forced to miss another couple of games.

Lester is with the team in San Francisco and in uniform for Saturday’s game, though he is not in the club’s starting lineup. The 28-year-old slugger has hit .282/.339/.549 with 14 homers and 50 RBI in 52 games at Triple-A Norfolk this season.

Lester signed a minor league deal with the Orioles this off-season after spending seven years in the Tigers organization and getting a cup of coffee with Detriot last September. The 28-year-old is known for over-the-fence power, which as been on display this season. Lester is hitting .500/.636/2.000 with four home runs in two games for Triple-A Norfolk. If he keeps hitting like this, he could find himself on the Orioles roster as an option off the bench.

Westburg had a case for a spot, but since the Orioles want to play Adam Frazier, there probably wasn’t going to be enough at-bats available to justify carrying him. O’Hearn also made a nice impression this spring, but it looks like the team has decided to give Kyle Stowers a shot as the main left-handed DH option.

Lester is 12-for-31 with a homer this spring as he attempts to win a spot on the Orioles bench. It might be worth it for Baltimore to keep him over Terrin Vavra, since while Vavra does offer quite a bit more defensively, defense doesn’t figure to be any sort of issue for the Orioles infield.

Lester made his major league debut last year with the Tigers, getting into a pair of late-season contests, and hit .246/.311/.479 with 29 homers and seven steals in 621 plate appearances over 145 games for Triple-A Toledo. The 28-year-old corner infielder has some serious over-the-fence pop, but his pedestrian plate skills limit his realistic long-term potential.