Josh Pressley

Joshua Ryan Pressley

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 6", Weight140 lb.
• High School Westminster Academy High School
• Born April 2, 1980 in Bangor, ME USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

First baseman/designated Josh Pressley played professionally from 1998 to 2013. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 4th round of the 1998 amateur draft, one pick ahead of reliever Javier Lopez, and was signed by scout Rudy Santin. He reached Triple-A briefly three times, but hit just .133/.261/.156 in 42 games at that level.

He slashed .304/.416/.376 in 36 games for the GCL Devil Rays his first year, then had another .300 campaign in 2000, batting .303/.370/.430 with 148 hits (including 44 doubles) in 130 games for the Charleston RiverDogs. On December 15, 2002, he was traded as one of two players to be named later (the other was Russ Johnson) to the New York Mets for shortstop Rey Ordonez. He played in the Mets system in 2003 and 2004, hitting .300/.383/.415 in 101 games for the Binghamton Mets the latter campaign. He discovered his power stroke in the Kansas City Royals system in 2005, hitting .311/.400/.518 with 22 home runs and 88 RBI in 119 games for the Wichita Wranglers. He spent 2006 in the St. Louis Cardinals (33 games), Florida Marlins (24 games) and Boston Red Sox (7 games) systems, but hit just .220.

From 2007 to 2013, he played in the independent Atlantic League for the Somerset Patriots (2007-2011) and Sugar Land Skeeters (2012-2013). After hitting 13 homers with 56 RBI in 2007, he broke out with a .354/.440/.605 line with 30 home runs, 101 RBI and 95 runs scored in 133 games in 2008 to earn league All-Star and Player of the Year honors. He then hit .314/.434/.493 with 15 home runs and 72 RBI in 2009. His slash lines—especially batting averages—packed less of a punch over the succeeding campaigns, however he still hit 22, 16, 16 and 12 home runs in his final four seasons to wrap up his career.

Including his limited time in the Mexican Pacific Winter League and Dominican Winter League, Pressley hit .288/.377/.444 with 176 home runs, 929 RBI, 1,614 hits, 333 doubles and 772 runs scored in 1,591 games over 16 seasons.