Graduated from St. John's High School in D.C. and selected by Baltimore in the third round of the June 2008 draft ... signed by Orioles scout Dean Albany. L.J. was named after his father Jerome Hoes...to avoid confusion, he took up the nickname L.J., which stands for Little Jerome. Was one of two players the Astros received from Baltimore in exchange for RHP Bud Norris on July 31, 2013...was originally added to a Major League 40-man roster by Baltimore in September of 2012 ... is currently signed to a one year contract that runs through 2014.
2014
Played in a career-high 55 games with the Astros...made his debut on a Major League roster and made his first start on Opening Day in right field...made 35 starts with Houston, 27 in LF, and eight in RF...made the club out of Spring Training and started the year with Houston...was optioned to Triple A OKC on May 25 after appearing in 27 games...was recalled to Houston on June 25...optioned back to Triple A on July 14...played 10 games at OKC before being recalled back to the Majors on Sept. 2, where he remained through the end of the season...blasted a solo homer and walked on Opening Day vs. NYY... marked his second career homer in what was his 186th career plate appearance...went 3x3 with a run scored on May 8 at DET...marked his first multi-hit game of the season and tied his career high in hits (last, Aug. 18, 2013, at LAA)...with a hit in his next at-bat a day later, recorded a hit in four straight at-bats (all singles), the longest streak by an Astro up to that point...batted .297 (38x128) in two stints (35g) at Triple A OKC...had a 12-game (June 12-24) hitting streak before being recalled to Houston in his first stint at OKC...hit .447 (21x47) in that span...played 14 games for Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan Winter League...batted .322 (19x59) with four doubles and a homer.
2013
23-year-old prospect played in 47 games with the Astros after coming to the organization from the Orioles as part of the Bud Norris trade...the outfielder was regarded as one of Baltimore's top prospects prior to the trade as he was ranked by MLB.com as Baltimore's No. 7 prospect...Baseball America had him as the O's #6 prospect prior to the season...played in one game with Baltimore before getting traded to Houston...hit .287 (48x167) with seven doubles, two triples and a HR in his 46 games as an Astro ... had 14 multi-hit games... made 41 starts for HOU: 40 in RF, 1 in CF, 1 at DH...made two apps. in LF ... started the season with Triple A Norfolk in the Orioles organization...was recalled from Triple A on July 28 and was traded to the Astros on July 31...hit .304 (111x365) with 25 doubles, 40 RBI and a .406 on-base percentage in 99 games at Triple A Norfolk...drew 58 walks as opposed to 56 strikeouts ... at the time of his recall, ranked third in the International League in OBP and sixth in walks...recorded his first Major League hit on Aug. 1 at BAL against the player he was traded for: RHP Bud Norris...hit his first big league homer on Aug. 18 at LAA.
2012
Named Brooks Robinson Minor League Player of the Year
... Began the season with Double-A Bowie, where he batted .265/.368/.372 in 51 games
... Had a 10-game hit streak, 4/24-5/4
... Batted .300/.374/.397 with 3 HR, 38 RBI and 54 R in 82 games with Triple-A Norfolk
... Spent the majority of the year as the youngest player in the International League
... Finished 32 plate appearances shy of qualifying among the International League leaders, where his .300 average would have
ranked 7th
... .287 average between AA/AAA ranked 4th among O's minor leaguers...Ranked 5th among O's farmhands with 20 SB
... Had a 20-game hitting streak, 6/18-7/12, during which he batted .447 (34-for-77) with a HR, 12 RBI and 18 R
... The streak was tied for the 2nd-longest in the IL in 2012 and was the 4th-longest in Tides franchise history
... Despite playing in 82 games for the Tides, ranked among team leaders in H (2nd, 95), R (T-2nd, 54), SB (3rd, 8) and BB (4th, 34)
... Had season-long 20-game hit streak, 6/18-7/12 for the Tides, batting .442 in that time (34-77)
... Contract selected from AAA, 9/11
... Made ML debut as pinch runner, 9/25 vs. TOR
... Grounded out in first and only ML AB, 9/26 vs. TOR
... Played for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League in the off-season
... Ranked as the Orioles 6th best prospect by Baseball America following the season
2011
Was promoted to Double-A Bowie from Class-A Frederick on May 23...Named Eastern League Player of the Week, July 25-August 1, when he went 12-for-26 (.462) with one double, four home runs, seven RBI, six walks, two stolen bases, seven runs scored, a .962 slugging percentage and reached base safely in all eight games, with five multi-hit efforts...Was the Orioles Player of the Month for July when he went 37-for-106 (.349) with six doubles, four home runs, 21 RBI, 12 walks, seven stolen bases and 18 runs scored with a .519 slugging percentage in 29 games...Was 7th in the Eastern League in batting average (.305)...Finished third on the club in stolen bases (16), fourth in hits (105) and RBI (54) and fifth in walks (43).
2010
Finished fifth in the Carolina League with a .375 OBP...Was named the fourth best prospect in the Orioles organization by Baseball America following the 2010 season...Hit .327 (16-49) with six doubles, eight walks and 10 runs scored in 14 games in May...Matched his career-high of four hits July 24 against Myrtle Beach.
2009
Set a career-high with four hits twice (June 28 at Lakewood and August 30 at Hagerstown)...Doubled three times on August 25 at Lake County...Hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games, batting .377 (20-53) with six doubles, six RBI and 12 runs scored.
2008
Finished third in the league in runs scored (36) and tied for the team lead in triples (3) and was second in RBI (18) and stolen bases (10)...His .308 batting average was fourth on the club and he ended the season on a 7-game hit streak August 18-27, during which he hit .360 (9-25) with a double, six runs and three RBI.