Junior Lake

For the lake located on Vancouver Island, see Junior Lake (Vancouver Island).
Junior Lake

Toronto Blue Jays
Outfielder
Born: (1990-03-27) March 27, 1990
San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 19, 2013, for the Chicago Cubs
MLB statistics
(through 2015 season)
Batting average .237
Home runs 16
Runs batted in 46
Teams

Junior Osvaldo Lake (born March 27, 1990) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He is listed at 6'3" and 215 lbs. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 2007 and made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with them in 2013. He has also played for the Baltimore Orioles.

Professional career

Chicago Cubs

On February 13, 2007, he was signed as an amateur free agent. He started playing for the DSL Cubs at the age of 17 batting .274 with 3 home runs. He then played for the Arizona League Cubs batting .286 with 2 home runs. In 2009, he went to the Peoria Chiefs batting .248 with 7 home runs. Lake was added to the Cubs 40-man roster on November 18, 2011.[1]

Lake batting for the Chicago Cubs in 2014

Lake suffered a stress fracture in a rib in spring training in 2013.[2][3] He began the season in the minors. The Cubs promoted him to the major leagues on July 19 after Brian Bogusevic was injured and he was batting .295.[4] Lake went 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base in his debut. In his first seven games, Lake had 15 hits, tied for the third most by any major league player since 1900. He batted .484 with 2 home runs and 5 runs batted in over this stretch. With the return of David DeJesus on July 24 and the departure of Alfonso Soriano, Lake assumed the starting role of left field. On August 1, 2013, Lake had the first multi-homer game of his career when he hit two solo home runs in a 4-6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. On September 6, 2013, he hit the first grand slam of his career in the first inning off Kyle Lohse of the Milwaukee Brewers. Lake finished the 2013 campaign batting .284 in 64 games with 6 homers, 16 RBIs and 4 stolen bases.

Lake started at left field on Opening Day in 2014. He hit his 7th and 8th home runs of the season in a game against the Miami Marlins on June 7, it was his second career multi-homerun game. After hitting just .216 with 9 home runs for the Cubs in 2014, Lake was optioned back to the AAA Iowa Cubs on August 16.[5]

Lake spent the majority of the 2015 season in AAA for the Cubs. He was called up and played in 21 games for the Cubs due to numerous injuries in the outfield.

Baltimore Orioles

On July 31, 2015, Lake was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Tommy Hunter.[6][7] On December 10th, Lake was designated for assignment.

Toronto Blue Jays

On December 18, 2015, Lake was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays.[8]

References

  1. "Cubs add four players to 40-man roster". Chicago.cubs.mlb.com. 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  2. "Injury ends camp for Cubs prospect Junior Lake - Chicago Sun-Times". Suntimes.com. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  3. "Injury knocks Junior Lake out of the picture". CSN Chicago. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  4. "Chicago Cubs News: Junior Lake to be called up from Iowa. - Chicago Tribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  5. Twitter / Cubs: The #Cubs today recalled RHP Dan Straily and optioned OF Junior Lake to @IowaCubs.
  6. Muskat, Carrie (July 31, 2015). "Cubs get Hunter from O's, send Lake in return". MLB.com. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  7. https://twitter.com/Orioles/status/627214685281120256
  8. Nicholson-Smith, Ben (December 18, 2015). "Blue Jays claim outfielder Junior Lake on waivers". sportsnet.ca. Retrieved December 18, 2015.

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