Biographical

Portrait of Josh James

Josh James PAstros

Astros Player Cards | Astros Team Audit | Astros Depth Chart

2019 Projections (Preseason PECOTA - seasonal age 26)
IP ERA WHIP SO W L SV WARP
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Birth Date3-8-1993
Height6' 3"
Weight234 lbs
Age31 years, 0 months, 21 days
BatsR
ThrowsR
2015
2016
2017
0.52018
2.02019
proj
WARP Summary

MLB Statistics

Historical (past-seasons) WARP is now based on DRA..
cFIP and DRA are not available on a by-team basis and display as zeroes(0). See TOT line for season totals of these stats.
Multiple stints are are currently shownClick to hide.
YEAR Team Lg G GS IP W L SV H BB SO HR PPF H/9 BB/9 HR/9 K/9 GB% BABIP WHIP FIP ERA cFIP DRA DRA- WARP
2018 HOU MLB 6 3 23.0 2 0 0 15 7 29 3 100 5.9 2.7 1.2 11.3 42% .240 0.96 3.54 2.35 88 3.20 71.4 0.5
2019 HOU MLB 49 1 61.3 5 1 1 46 35 100 10 103 6.8 5.1 1.5 14.7 35% .308 1.32 4.01 4.70 83 3.36 68.9 1.3
CareerMLB55484.37116142129131026.54.51.413.837%.2871.223.884.06843.3269.61.9

Statistics for All Levels

'opp' stats - Quality of opponents faced - have been moved and are available only as OPP_QUAL in the Statistics reports now.
Minor league stats are currently shownClick to hide.
YEAR Team Lg LG G GS IP W L SV H BB SO HR PPF H/9 BB/9 HR/9 K/9 GB% BABIP WHIP FIP ERA cFIP DRA DRA-
2014 GRV Rk APP 13 6 39.7 1 3 0 35 15 45 0 7.9 3.4 0.0 10.2 0% .343 1.26 2.62 2.72 0 0.00 0.0
2015 QUD A MID 24 18 116.3 7 4 1 102 41 89 2 104 7.9 3.2 0.2 6.9 0% .291 1.23 3.55 2.63 101 3.90 85.4
2016 LNC A+ CAL 23 19 110.3 9 5 1 120 40 121 11 110 9.8 3.3 0.9 9.9 48% .350 1.45 4.14 4.81 90 4.65 102.7
2017 CCH AA TEX 21 11 76.0 4 8 3 79 32 72 1 95 9.4 3.8 0.1 8.5 53% .338 1.46 3.13 4.38 90 5.11 108.8
2018 HOU MLB AL 6 3 23.0 2 0 0 15 7 29 3 100 5.9 2.7 1.2 11.3 42% .240 0.96 3.54 2.35 88 3.20 71.4
2018 CCH AA TEX 6 4 21.7 0 0 1 17 10 38 1 95 7.1 4.2 0.4 15.8 58% .364 1.25 1.92 2.49 65 2.93 62.0
2018 FRE AAA PCL 17 17 92.7 6 4 0 62 39 133 8 95 6.0 3.8 0.8 12.9 41% .278 1.09 3.38 3.40 79 2.47 52.3
2019 HOU MLB AL 49 1 61.3 5 1 1 46 35 100 10 103 6.8 5.1 1.5 14.7 35% .308 1.32 4.01 4.70 83 3.36 68.9
2019 ROU AAA PCL 3 0 3.3 0 0 0 4 2 5 0 10.8 5.4 0.0 13.5 33% .444 1.80 2.59 10.80 87 4.19 86.2

Plate Discipline

YEAR Pits Zone% Swing% Contact% Z-Swing% O-Swing% Z-Contact% O-Contact% SwStr%
2018 349 0.4928 0.4642 0.6852 0.6047 0.3277 0.7981 0.4828 0.3148
2019 1132 0.4894 0.4523 0.6328 0.6606 0.2526 0.7514 0.3356 0.3672
Career14810.49020.45510.64510.64740.27030.76240.37030.3549

Injury History  —  No longer being updated

Last Update: 12/31/2014 23:59 ET

Date On Date Off Transaction Days Games Side Body Part Injury Severity Surgery Date Reaggravation

Compensation

Year Team Salary
2024 SLN $
2022 HOU $800,000
2021 HOU $602,000
2020 HOU $590,700
2019 HOU $556,800
2018 HOU $
YearsDescriptionSalary
4 yrPrevious$2,549,500
4 yrTotal$2,549,500

 

Service TimeAgentContract Status
3 y 110 dCAA1 year (2024)

Details
  • 1 year (2024). Signed by St. Louis as a free agent 1/27/24 (minor-league contract).
  • 2023
  • 1 year/$800,000 (2022). Re-signed by Houston 3/22/22 (avoided arbitration). Non-tendered by Houston 11/18/22.
  • 1 year/$602,000 (2021). Re-signed by Houston 3/21.
  • 1 year/$590,700 (2020). Re-signed by Houston 3/20.
  • 1 year/$556,800 (2019). Re-signed by Houston 3/19.
  • 1 year (2018). Contract selected by Houston 9/1/18.
  • Drafted by Houston 2014 (34-1,006) (Western Oklahoma State College).

2019 Preseason Forecast

Last Update: 1/27/2017 12:35 ET

PCT W L SV G GS IP H BB SO HR BABIP WHIP ERA DRA VORP WARP
90o 0 0 0 0 0 13.0 8 5 16 1 .251 1.01 2.20 2.62 0.0 0.0
80o 0 0 0 0 0 8.5 6 3 10 1 .264 1.08 2.52 2.99 0.0 0.0
70o 0 0 0 0 0 5.3 4 2 6 0 .273 1.13 2.74 3.26 0.0 0.0
60o 0 0 0 0 0 2.7 2 1 3 0 .281 1.18 2.94 3.49 0.0 0.0
50o 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 0 0 0 0 .288 1.22 3.13 3.71 0.0 0.0
Weighted Mean?????0.0?00?.0000.000.00?0.00.0

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BP Annual Player Comments

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BP Articles

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BP Chats

DateQuestionAnswer
2020-03-27 13:00:00 (link to chat)If you could choose 3 guys outside of the fantasy top 200 who you think have the best chance of contributing like a top 50 player by the end of the year, who would you take?
(Senator Ron from Whipping my caucus)
I assume you are talking redraft (and not prospects). I think certain prospects drafted 200+ could arrive and produce like a top-50 player (Adell & Gore). Others include a healthy Andrew McCutchen, Josh James, Dylan Cease, Willy Adames, Trent Grisham, and Gregory Polanco. (Jesse Roche)
2019-09-27 12:00:00 (link to chat)Will/should the Astros give Josh James another rotation look in 2020? It was kind of a lost year for him this year. He entered ST with a ton of rotation buzz but then hurt his quad, was sent to the pen and stayed there all year.
(Jake from TX)
He's not a bad fallback plan, but they should probably want more of a sure thing in the rotation given their contention window. (Jeffrey Paternostro)
2019-09-11 13:00:00 (link to chat)Hey Craig, Trying to sort my keepers for a 24 team dynasty league while everyone else is watching football ha! Would you keep Jonathan Stiever over any of these Josh James,Brent Honeywell,Shane Baz, Luis Patino or Brad Keller? Probably not in a position to compete in 2020 but hopefully 2021 is the year. Thanks!
(boatman44 from Liverpool)
I would not keep Stiever over any of them, no. Maaaaybe Honeywell but it's really hard to say at this point. (Craig Goldstein)
2019-07-24 13:00:00 (link to chat)I’ve been throwing a Thor to the Astros deal around. Astros get: Noah Syndergaard. Mets get: Forrest Whitley Josh James Derek Fisher or Bukauskas The Astros get their playoff pitcher to slot in behind Verlander and Cole. They also get a Cole replacement for the next few seasons. The Mets get a young controllable potential front line starter that would have likely been untouchable a few month ago. They get a starter that the Astros don’t want to start for some reason in Josh James. Thoughts?
(Matt from Boston)
I think if the Mets are going to trade Thor, this is the sort of move they'd want to make – they want someone who is legitimately near Thor's level of talent, or else why not just hold onto him? The problem is that only one of those guys (Whitley) has the talent, and he doesn't appear to have the durability (less than 30 IP this year total). Sure, Syndergaard's underperformed his peripherals for a few seasons, but he's still a top-ten in MLB arm, and I don't know what would make the Mets part with him except top-end, majors-ready talent at multiple positions. (Ginny Searle)
2019-06-05 21:00:00 (link to chat)Any fringe prospects or young MLB guys you’d recommend chasing in dynasty if I’m rebuilding? I’ve started to target high risk/reward guys in the hopes that I can hit on a few of them.
(Phin from WI)
Chasing any players in particular isn't generally a great idea, but I like what Scott Kingery has been doing this year and I don't think his value has caught up with his performance because some of it is unsustainable. I like the idea of buying pitchers who have currently muddled roles like Alex Reyes or Josh James. Buying into the down cycle is often the best way to spur a rebuild, especially when you're looking at players with service time or current MLB roles. (Mr. President Bret Sayre)
2019-05-06 23:45:00 (link to chat)What do you think the future holds for Josh James? So much helium going into the year. If he didn't injure his quad early in spring, odds are he breaks camp in the rotation. Instead of letting him start in AAA, they've put him in the big league pen where he's largely struggled. Whitley and Martin are both getting close to big league ready, possibly muddying the waters more.
(Dave from TX)
The Astros are grooming every high minors dude who's not Whitley level to work in chunks. Wave a the future, dude. James fits the bill perfectly. We talked a bunch about him in our preview pre-season. Any number of things could be going on with him right now, but the stuff and talent is there. He looked better over the weekend, and he's still whiffing a ton of dudes in spite of the struggles. I remain a fan.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/47221/table-for-two-previewing-the-2019-houston-astros/ (Wilson Karaman)
2019-05-03 13:00:00 (link to chat)I saw your back and forth with Bret and Ben (and your receipts). If you had done a fantasy 101, where would you slot in Waters? Related, if I could trade Adames and Josh James for Waters, should I?
(Rusty Montana from Billings)
It's a bit of an unfair situation since I've never done my own fantasy lists and have usually just picked at Bret and Ben's output, which they're kind enough to let me do. I probably would have had him around 30. I'm not sure I'd make that move just yet. Adames was a top 30 guy of his own not long ago. (Craig Goldstein)
2019-02-25 16:00:00 (link to chat)Who is your sleeper breakout player. A non top 150 guy who will make the leap to top 25 value.
(Simon from Atlanta)
Jeebus, Kyle Lewis just crushed one halfway to New Mexico.

That's a pretty high bar to clear--150+ to top 25. Excluding rookies like Kyle Tucker, Nick Senzel, or Peter Alonso, I'll give some 150+ names that could improve significantly (if not top 25): Amed Rosario, Jesse Winker, Luke Voit, Ramon Laureano, Hunter Renfroe, Manny Margot, Josh James, Tyler Skaggs. Off the top of my head. (Jon Hegglund)
2019-02-25 16:00:00 (link to chat)Which young SP's take big steps forward this year?
(Buddy from Peoria, IL)
Feels like there are a bunch...I think the secret's out on Taillon after the slider-fueled dominance in the 2H last year. Lotta hype on Bieber and Pivetta as well. I'm into a bunch of later-round arms: Josh James, Joey Lucchesi, Tyler Glasnow, Tyler Skaggs, Matt Boyd, and, as always, Jon Gray. (Jon Hegglund)
2019-02-18 16:00:00 (link to chat)Who do you prefer in 5x5 Roto out of Josh James, Touki, Lucchesi, and Kikuchi?
(Turd Ferguson from Jeopardy)
James has a lot of talent but uncertain rotation spot in HOU right now. I'd lean Lucchesi and Kikuchi for more certain playing time. I'm not a fan of Touki for 2019. (Kevin Jebens)
2019-02-04 16:00:00 (link to chat)Touki or Josh James for fantasy?
(6'11" Bottom from Getting butt surgery)
James. And gross. (Mike Gianella)
2019-02-04 16:00:00 (link to chat)In a dynasty league, how do you rank Alex Wood, Shane Bieber, Josh James, and Yu Darvish? Likely going to be shopping one or all of these guys on the off chance I can get some solid draft picks in our very deep minor-leaguer draft coming up.
(Alex from Austin)
Wood, James, Darvish, Bieber. Darvish could sit in any of these spots; it's extremely difficult to rank him rn. (Mike Gianella)
2019-02-04 16:00:00 (link to chat)It seems you're down on Touki. You have Soroka taking his job "sooner rather that later" and also have Josh James far ahead of him. That's stings, as I've loaded up on Touki stock in all 7 of my dynasty leagues
(Kurt from New Lenox)
I'm not down on Touki. It's more a compliment to the other two pitchers. (Mike Gianella)
2019-01-23 12:00:00 (link to chat)Who made the biggest jump in yours/the teams eyes? As in who was furthest from being 101 worthy this time last year that made it this time around and why
(pmammino from NJ)
I think the answer to both of these is Josh James, which is something that is nearly impossible to predict.

Gotta take a brief intermission, but I'll be back to the queue in a bit, so fire away. (Jeffrey Paternostro)


BP Roundtables

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PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC


Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2023, Josh James threw 2,760 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2018 and 2022, all of them occuring in Spring Training. In 2022, he relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (94mph), also mixing in a Slider (83mph), Change (86mph) and Cutter (88mph). He also rarely threw a Curve (81mph).