Josh James (baseball)


Joshua James is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball. He was drafted by the Astros in the 34th round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his major league debut in 2018.

Career

James attended South Broward High School in Hollywood, Florida, and played college baseball at Western Oklahoma State College. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 34th round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft, and he signed.
James made his professional debut in 2014 with the Greeneville Astros and spent the whole season there, going 1-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 39.2 innings pitched. He pitched 2015 with the Quad Cities River Bandits where he was 7-4 with a 2.63 ERA in 24 games, 2016 with the Lancaster JetHawks where he posted a 9-5 record and a 4.81 ERA in 23 games, and 2017 with the Corpus Christi Hooks where he was 4-8 with a 4.38 ERA in 21 games, 11 which were starts.
He started the 2018 season with Corpus Christi and was promoted to the Fresno Grizzlies during the season. With the two teams he was 6-4 with a 3.23 ERA, and 171 strikeouts in 114.1 innings. In 2018, he saw a jump in his velocity, which he credited to his sleep apnea diagnosis during the offseason.
James was promoted to the major leagues for the first time on September 1, 2018. In 2018 with the Astros he was 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA, in six games in which he pitched 23.0 innings and struck out 29 batters.
In 2019 with the Astros he was 5-1 with one save and a 4.70 ERA, in 49 games in which he pitched innings and struck out 100 batters.