Joseph Lee Estes…Graduated from Paraclete High School.
2024
Spent most of the season in the A’s starting rotation and went 7-9 with a 5.01 ERA and .781 opponents OPS in 25 games, including 24 starts, following a May 11 promotion from Triple-A Las Vegas...Tied for eighth among Major League rookies in wins and starts and ranked 10th in innings pitched (127.2)…Had one of four complete games and one of four shutouts…Led ML rookies in most hit batters (10), ranked third in home runs (23), fourth in runs (73) and fifth in losses...His 10 hit batters tied the Oakland rookie record, a mark he now shares with Steve McCatty (1979) and A.J. Puk (2022)...Was one of 16 pitchers in the Majors to toss a shutout and tied for fourth with his one complete game...Issued 27 walks and his average of 1.90 walks per nine innings was 13th lowest in the Majors among pitchers with 100 or more innings…Had the eighth fewest strikeouts per nine innings (6.49)...Allowed a .259 opponents batting average, which broke down to .239 (55-for-230) with a .754 OPS against left-handed hitters compared to .277 (75-for-271) with an .803 OPS against right-handers...Issued 18 of his 27 walks to lefties...Was 4-3 with a 3.26 ERA and .651 opponents OPS in 11 starts at home, 3-6 with a 6.90 ERA and .902 OPS in 14 games, 13 starts, on the road...His road ERA was second highest in the Majors in 2024 and third highest in Oakland history among pitchers with 60 or more innings pitched...Saw his ERA decrease in each of his first four months...Went 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA in four starts in May, 1-2 with a 4.56 ERA in five starts in June, 2-1 with a 4.32 ERA in five games in July and 2-2 with a 3.03 ERA in six starts in August...The finished the season by going 1-3 with an 8.71 ERA in five starts in September...Yielded eight home runs in 63.0 innings before the All-Star Break, 15 in 64.2 innings after the break...Was 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in six starts on six days rest or more, 4-8 with a 6.11 ERA in 18 outings on five days rest or fewer...Went 4-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 11 games against American League West competition, 3-6 with a 6.22 ERA in 14 starts against all other teams...Allowed 25 of his 73 runs, more than one-third, in the second inning for a 9.93 ERA...The A’s were 10-14 (.417) in his starting assignments…Left with the lead four times, only to have the bullpen blow the save...Tossed five innings or fewer in 11 of his 24 starts…Walked one batter or fewer 17 times, including eight starts with no walks...Walked more than two just once...Began the year at Las Vegas and went 2-3 with a 6.04 ERA and .932 opponents OPS in six starts...Surrendered seven home runs in 28.1 innings (2.22 per nine innings)...Allowed a .272 opponents batting average, which included .213 (13-for-61) with a .791 opponents OPS against right-handed hitters and .340 (18-for-53) with a 1.087 OPS against lefthanders.
2023
Made his Double-A, Triple-A and Major League debuts in 2023…combined for a 9-6 record, a 3.74 ERA and .710 opponents OPS in 27 games, including 23 starts, with Midland and Las Vegas…also went 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA and 1.005 opponents OPS in two September starts with Oakland...Struck out seven, walked two and surrendered four home runs in 10.0 innings in his two big league appearances...Allowed a .263 (5-for-19) average and .860 OPS against right-handed hitters, .304 (7-for-23) with all three of his home runs and a 1.125 OPS against left-handers...Opponents were 1-for-9 (.111) with runners in scoring position...Had Minor League career highs in every counting category except losses and wild pitches...Struck out 131 batters in 137.0 innings and his average of 8.61 strikeouts per nine innings was the lowest of his three full seasons…walked 43 for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.05...Led the A’s farm system in ERA and innings pitched, tied for the lead in wins (9) and ranked second in strikeouts and games started (23)…surrendered the most home runs (24)...Allowed a .223 opponents batting average, which broke down to .206 (45-for-218) with a .628 opponents OPS against left-handed hitters compared to .235 (71-for-302) with a .768 OPS against right-handers...Opponents hit .204 with runners in scoring position and were 0-for-8 with the bases loaded...Held the opponents leadoff hitter in the batting order to a .162 batting average and .240 on-base percentage...As a starter, he had a .206 opponents batting average the first two times through the order, .303 after that...Was 3-4 with a 2.82 ERA in 12 games at Midland’s Momentum Bank Ballpark and 1-0 with a 10.80 ERA in three starts at Las Vegas Ballpark…combined for a 5-2 record and a 3.34 ERA in 12 games, 10 starts, in road ballparks...Posted a 2.30 ERA and .643 OPS over innings 1-2, a 5.05 ERA and .800 OPS over innings 3-4 and a 3.76 ERA and .663 OPS from the fifth inning on...Was 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in six starts on four days rest, 5-4 with a 3.54 ERA in 11 starts on five days rest and 2-1 with a 4.58 ERA in eight appearances on six days rest or more...Tossed at least 3.2 innings in each of his 27 appearances and his season high was 7.0 on three occasions…walked one batter or fewer 17 times and allowed one run or fewer 10 times…averaged 79.1 pitches per outing...Was named an A’s Organization All-Star by MLB.com following the season.
2022
Was traded to the A’s in the Matt Olson deal prior to the start of Spring Training and spent the entire season at Single-A Lansing…started 20 games for the second consecutive year and went 3-7 with a 4.55 ERA…struck out 92 batters in 91.0 innings (9.10 per nine innings) and walked 30 (2.97 per nine innings)…tied for 10th in the A’s farm system in games started…had a .250 opponents batting average, which included a mark of .247 with a .809 OPS against lefthanded hitters compared to .253 with a .783 OPS against right-handers…his opponents batting average dropped to .214 with runners in scoring position…was 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 10 starts on the road, 1-5 with a 5.21 ERA in 10 starts home…made 12 of his 20 starts on six days rest or more and was 3-3 with a 3.40 ERA in those starts…was 0-4 with a 6.37 ERA in his other eight starts… had a .227 opponents average the first time through the order, .257 the second time and .311 after that…held the bottom three hitters in the batting order to a .153 batting average…the one and two hitters combined for a .337 average…tossed five or more innings in 11 of his 20 starts… walked two batters or fewer 19 times…tossed a season-high 6.0 innings May 4 against West Michigan, his first of four starts of exactly 6.0 innings (the other three came in his final three starts of the season)…also struck out a season-high seven on the 4th, his first of three sevenstrikeout games (May 21 at Great Lakes, July 28 at Great Lakes)…was 0-3 with a 4.93 ERA in seven starts when he was placed on the injured list May 22 with a strained left hip…was reinstated June 12 and went 3-4 with a 4.31 ERA over his final 13 starts…won back-to-back starts for the only time on June 30 at Lake County and July 7 against Great Lakes…tossed 5.0 scoreless innings in the latter start…picked up his third and final win of the season on Aug. 25 at Wisconsin when he tossed 6.0 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit in a 6-1 victory…went 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and .189 opponents batting average in four starts in August and then compiled a 2.25 ERA in two starts in September…tossed a season-high 91 pitches on Sept. 8 against Dayton and had a no decision, despite allowing just one run in 6.0 innings.
2021
Spent the entire season at Augusta and was named Low-A East Pitcher of the Year after going 3-6 with a 2.91 ERA in 20 starts…led the league in ERA and strikeouts (127), ranked second in innings pitched (99.0) and tied for eighth in games started…was also named to the Low-A East Postseason All-Star team…ranked sixth in the Braves farm system in strikeouts and seventh in innings pitched…had a .184 opponents batting average, which broke down to .148 with a .478 OPS against left-handed hitters compared to .213 wit4h a .603 OPS against right-handers…surrendered six of his seven home runs to righties but issued 20 of his 29 walks to lefties…was 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA and .440 opponents OPS in 10 starts at home, 0-6 with a 5.56 ERA and .672 OPS in 10 starts on the road…allowed five of his seven home runs on the road…held the four hitter in the order to a .119 batting average and the five hitter to a mark of .093…had three games with 10 or more strikeouts and did not walk a batter in each of those three starts…allowed five runs over his first six starts and was 0-1 with a 1.01 ERA and .160 opponents batting average…the Green Jackets won all five of his no decisions over that stretch…was 0-1 with a 1.59 ERA in four starts in the month of May…did not allow a run in back-to-back starts on June 2 against Charleston and June 9 against Myrtle Beach as part of a 13.2-inning scoreless streak from May 26-June 15…struck out 11 in 5.2 innings on the 9th…was named Low-A East Pitcher of the Week for the week of June 28-July 4 after having a no decision in a 7-4 loss to Columbia on July 3 (6.0 ip, 3 h, 1 r, 1 er, 2 bb, 5 so)…earned his first professional win in his next start on July 9 against Myrtle Beach when he tossed 7.0 scoreless innings in a 6-1 win (2 h, 1 bb, 7 so)…struck out 10 in 5.1 innings at Columbia July 21…had the only complete game of his career, a 9.0-inning four-hitter in an 8-2 win over Kannapolis on Aug. 14…did not walk a batter and struck out a minor league career-high 14…earned Low-A East Pitcher of the Week honors for his efforts (Aug. 9-15)…was placed on the injured list Sept. 7 with tendinitis in his right knee and missed the remainder of the season.
2020
Did not pitch as the minor league season was cancelled due to the pandemic.
2019
Made his professional debut with the Braves affiliate in the Gulf Coast League and was 0-1 with an 8.10 ERA in five starts…allowed a .256 opponents batting average, which broke down to .241 against right-handed hitters and .300 against left-handers…his first appearance was a start on July 20 against the GCL Rays (2.0 ip, 1 h, 3 so).
