[smastroyin]

General Info:



Age: 22
Born: January 7, 1984
Puyallup, WA
Height: 6-3
Weight: 200
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Drafted: 2nd Round, 2002
How Acquired: Draft
High School: Bellarmine Preparatory School (Tacoma, WA)
ETA: late-2006

Sox Prospects Page

The Requisite David Laurila Interview is no longer available. Go buy his book!

Some highlights from the Soxprospects.com scouting report for those that don't want to click through.

- 5 pitch pitcher: 2 seam fastball, 4 seam fastball, straight change, 11-5 curve, and a cutter
- Fastball sits inthe low-90's but tops in the mid-90's
- Compared to Andy Pettitte, Mark Mulder

Some relevant stats:

Lg  Lvl  Age  IP    H   R  HR BB  K   RA   WHIP  BB/9  K/9  K/BB
GCL R    18   0.2   5   6  0  1   1   67.5 9.00  13.5  13.5 1.00
SAL A    19   106.0 102 54 7  44  71  4.58 1.38  3.74  6.03 1.61
GCL R    20   1.0   0   0  0  2   1   0.00 2.00  18.0  9.0  0.50
FSL A+   20   90.1  82  46 2  37  97  4.58 1.32  3.69  9.66 2.62
EL  AA   21   148.1 114 52 10 57  163 3.16 1.15  3.46  9.89 2.86

This post has been edited by smastroyin: 24 February 2006 - 10:41 AM

[smastroyin]

Here is a little fluff piece on Lester from the Globe prospect package.

Due to an inevitable conflict, I am not able to attend PawSox opening day on Thursday. If anyone else goes, and Lester pitches (I haven't seen it formally announced yet, but I am assuming he will), then feel free to update the thread.

[smastroyin]

Copied from my own report in the ml day thread.

One thing about Pawtucket games in april - you can get good seats.

I was behind home plate, just to the first base side, in the front row. Two row behind me Dennys Reyes was charting pitches for the Red Wings. On the 3B side, Abe Alvarez sporting his new haircut was charting for the Sox. Somebody was sitting next to Abe with a radar gun.

Anyone who saw Lester last year knows that sometimes he has nights like this where the command on his fastball just isn't there. Tonight it was riding very high especially when he tried to dial it up. It was a cold night and while I'm sure he doesn't want to make excuses, I have to imagine it was hard to establish a consistent grip on the ball. JD durbin had command issues also, although the Pawsox were not nearly good enough to take advantage. More on that later.

In the first inning, the first two Red Wings got on board. Lester started Torres with a nice outside fastball then left one at the belt right over the heart of the plate, which Torres crushed on a line over the shortstop's head. For the second batter, he tried to dial it up and added 2-3 mph to the fastball, but couldn't really get one in the zone and quickly fell behind 2-0, eventually giving up a seeing-eye single through the left side on a 3-1 pitch. Lester did get ahead of the next batter, Terry Tiffee, and should have had him on a gorgeous curveball but apparently the umpire hadn't seen a curveball that good in his career and called it a ball. Tiffee took the next pitch, a high fastball and hit it about 370 feet, where it was caught by Jeff Bailey. The next hitter was a lefty, Garrett Jones, the only lefty in the lineup. Lester quickly got ahead 1-2, then threw a curveball in the dirt and bounced a fastball off of the backboard before striking him out. Next up was Jason Hart who also worked a full count before fouling off a pitch then sending a ball high to right field for the final out.

In the second, Lester had even less control of his pitches. Leading off, Josh Rabe walked on four pitches. One of those pitches went about 45 feet. The others were another curveball that went about 58 feet, and a two fastballs very high in the zone. Jason Bartlett followed with a not exactly crisp single (it was a pop fly that feel between Machado, Harris, and Bailey) on an 0-1 fastball, so again Rochester had the first two runners on. Lester then threw more fastballs to old friend Shawn Wooten, the second one of which Huckaby dropped as the red wing runners stole second and third. Wooten then sent a pop fly to RF that was not deep enough to score the runners. It looked like it might also drop as Durrington looked awful going back on it, but Ron Calloway made a long run from his position in RF to snag it. The next hitter was aussie Glenn Williams, who got to see all four of Lester's pitches before striking out on a 3-2 fastball. He also saw another 50-60 foot pitch. Lester was definitely having trouble with his release, evidenced as he walked the next two batters. On both of these batters, he seemed to lose confidence in his ability to throw a fastball over the plate and was throwing more off-speed. I know he has been working on the 2 seam and cut fastballs and that seemed to be what he was throwing along with the change. He was not helped when Jeff Bailey dropped a foul flyball. I don't know how you manage to have a 250 foot foul fly ball that is nowhere near the fence bounce off your glove, but Bailey managed. That cost Lester a run, a walk, and 11 pitches. After the second walk, he went back to the fastball and got Terry Tiffee to foul to the catcher on an 0-1 pitch.

They let him return for the third to get to his pitch count and also, I think so that he could face lefty Garrett Jones again. He still seemed to have some trouble with his command and really looked like his night was over even if it wasn't pitch count time. His fastball still had pop, but even though Jones couldn't get wood on his pitches, he still required a full count before striking him out on a fastball well out of the zone high and outside.

Over, Lester was at 92-95 on the fastball with his straight change in the 84-86 range. He threw 5 or 6 curveballs. They clock in even slower than the straight change, about 80-82. He also threw the other off-speed pitch in the 88-90 range I assume this was a cut fastball. I did not see enough late break to indicate a slider. His main problem seemed to be with his release. The rest of his mechanics were sound and consistent. He will have trouble though if he doesn't start getting ahead of these AAA hitters.

MDC had a lot of pop on his fastball and was quickly frustrated both by the mound conditions (I'm not sure what the problem was but he paid a lot of attention to it) and the inconsistency of the home plate umpire, who took a lot of flak from both sides, maybe some deserved. He did give up a 2B allowing two inherited runners to score, however it was a bouncer taking two hops before going over the third base bag which Wilson did not even make a healthy attempt at. In his defense, he thought it was foul. If you call that a defense.

As for the PawSox team, all I can say is oy!. I don't want to see Willie Harris anywhere near CF in Fenway. He made a leaping catch in CF that got huge applause. Except he only had to leap because he slowed down first, completely misjudging the ball. He is also swinging a very slow bat right now. Mohr didn't look much better but at least put solid contact on the ball in two at bats. Ron Calloway shouldn't be any teams number 3 hitter. Jeff Bailey looked crappy at the plate and was also atrocious in the field. I'll be frank, this team looks bad. They should get better with Pedroia and Stern but right now I wouldn't want to call any of these guys up outside of Machado and maybe Durrington (although Durrington played a piss poor 2B last night, failing to cover second on a steal attempt, looking lost on the aforementioned pop fly, and letting two balls go under his glove). Enrique Wilson is done. He looked awful both at the plate and in the field. As this team as presently constituted with be lucky to win 40% of it's games and I think I'm being generous. Pawsox fans are going to be severely longing for the days of Youks, Petagine, Shoppach in the middle of the lineup. I know it is early but I would say the Sox came out with a talent negative at the AAA level with the guys they let go (e.g. Sherrod, Wooten) and the guys they brought in. Bailey shouldn't touch a glove. You guys that think Manny is bad should have seen him last night.

Anyway, that's my report. It will be a long summer in Pawtucket without a talent infusion.

[smastroyin]

amfox contributes this log for Lester's 5/1 start.

Quote

Pawtucket:

Lester throws 23 pitches in the 1st inning - walk, aborted pickoff (error on Choi, runner to second), K (swinging), 5-3, 3 unassisted

Lester throws 15 pitches in the 2nd inning - 5-3, walk, 3-1, popout to 2B

Lester throws 14 pitches in the 3rd inning - flyout to CF, K (swinging), double to LF, flyout to LF

Lester gives up a single and a two-run jack to start the 4th inning.

Lester throws 16 pitches in the 4th inning - single to LF, home run to RF, 4-3, 6-3, K (swinging)

Lester throws 13 pitches in the 5th inning - 4-3, 1-3, K (swinging)

Final line (81 pitches) - 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

PawSox trail 2-1, end 5th

[smastroyin]

April was a tough month for Jon Lester making his adjustment to AAA. On a pretty strict pitch count, he has only averaged a bit over 3 innings per start and has 10 BB in 16 innings. The walks and the the general high number of pitches he has thrown out of the strike zone are really what are killing him. He has also given up 4 HR in just 16 innings which seems to be at least partly a result of throwing "get me over" fastballs when he hasn't had the best command.

Lester has struggled with command issues in limited times before and I wonder if something in his mechanics has gone awry that noone is picking out.

[smastroyin]

Let's see if I can keep a running gamelog updated.

bumped in interest of the Lester discussion on the main board.

Date Opp  IP   K  BB  H  R  HR
4/10 ROC  2.1  3  3   3  1  0
4/15 CHA  2.0  2  1   5  5  2
4/20 DUR  4.0  6  2   2  2  0
4/26 DUR  3.1  4  2   3  1  1
5/1  OTT  5.0  4  2   3  2  1
5/6  ROC  5.0  4  1   4  0  0
5/11 SYR  5.0  6  0   6  2  0
5/16 BUF  5.2  5  2   4  2  0
5/23 LOU  5.0  3  4   3  1  0

This post has been edited by smastroyin: 25 May 2006 - 08:13 AM

[smastroyin]

This is my report on Lester's 5/23 start against the Louisville Bats.

Just got back from McCoy. I am sick and it was cold so I left after it was clear Lester wasn't coming back out for the sixth. Tonight's game was a perfect opportunity for everyone who thinks Lester is the answer to the Red Sox fifth starter problem to watch him. Here is an inning by inning rundown.

Note that my seat tonight was at an angle to the plate which means I had to go by the speed to distinguish between the slider and the cutter. The slider typically clocks in in the mid-80s and the cutter is in the high-80's low-90's. They look almost the same from more than 100 feet and especially at the angle I was at.

First inning. He started off using the cutter and quickly got a weak ground ball from Bergolla. He then started Olmeda with a curveball that didn't break and sailed out of the zone and followed up with a couple of fastballs, one close, one not close at all. On the not close at all one, he actually fell off the mound at the end of his delivery. He got a strike on the cutter but then walked Olmeda on a pitch that was very high and tight. Denorfio took a ball then popped a high slider to shallow RF for Machado. Lester quickly got ahead of Gutierrez, threw a beautiful 0-2 curve that was called a ball, and then Gut. grounded weakly to Enrique Wilson at 3B. In total 13 pitches, 7 for strikes.

Second inning. Lester threw a fasball by Andy Abad with the first pitch of the inning then switched to all offspeed stuff out of the strikezone to run the count 3-1. Another FB which may have been out of the zone but that Abad fouled off, and then Abad hit a line drive right off of Lester. Hard to tell where it hit him, but I think it may have been the glove hand. He then walked another old friend, Earl Snyder, getting only a consolation call on a 3-0 cutter. He was visibly frustrated during this at bat and threw the rosin bag to the ground after the walk and took a little trip around the back of the mound. He then sacked up and got Bannon and Kata on swinging strikeouts, one of the slider, Kata on a curveball way out of the zone. 20 pitches, 10 for strikes.

Third inning. He started Sardinha looking foolish on a cutter and a 95 mph FB then on 0-2 threw a flat curveball right over the heart of the plate. A major league hitter would have put it over the Green Monster - from Pawtucket. Sardinha roped a double that would have likely been caught if the Sox outfield weren't playing so much to the opposite field. Lester then got a gift out on a sac bunt (in the 3rd inning with the leadoff guy? who is managing Louisville?). He fielded it cleanly and could probably give Lenny DiNArdo a quick lesson on properly throwing the ball to first base. Next up Ray Olmeda who was obviously frustrated by walking in the first and swung at everything near the plate. Honestly he could have walked on four pitches again. Instead the count got to 3-2 and he managed to foul off a few more pitches before whiffing on either a fast curveball or a heavy moving slider. After the K, Lester walked Denorfio on four pitches maybe one of which you might say "aw come on ump." Gutierrez then hit a soft one hopper to short for the final out. 20 pitches, 11 for strikes.

Fourth inning. The sun had gone down by this point and it was cold in the park. About 50 degrees with a decent wind. Abad hit a towering fly ball that ended up about 10 feet behind the infield but seemed to take 5 minutes to get there. Earl Snyder looped a 1-0 pitch to the second baseman, and after falling behind Bannon 3-0, Lester came back to retire him on a well hit fly to left field. 12 pitches, 6 for strikes.

Fifth inning. Kata, who had looked foolish before, walked on 5 pitches and the strike was another gift swing at a ball well out of the zone. Lester's frustration at this point was evident enough that I took note of it. Huckaby visited the mound. Sardinha then got his second hit when he looped a single to RF on a 1-1 cutter that stayed in the middle of the plate. Again a sac bunt saved Lester some pitches (seriously, this is the leadoff hitter in the fifth inning. I would fire a manger for this) Another long battle with Olmeda swinging at just about everything resulted in a short pop to left field that couldn't score the runner from third. However, Denorfio took a 1-0 fastball and drilled it on the ground through the left side of the infield for a single, however Durrington made a nice throw to gun down the runner from second ending the inning, and Lester's night. 19 pitches, 10 for strikes.

On the night he threw 5 innings, faced 21 batters, walked 4 and struck out 3, all swinging. He gave up 3 hits and the lone run. But he also needed 84 pitches to get through 5 innings and only threw 44 of those for strikes. Note that of 15 outs recorded, three were gifts - two sac bunts and a runner thrown out at the plate. [The Pawtucket game story says he threw 47 strikes but I charted every pitch and while I might believe I missed one I have a hard time believing I missed three.]

I am thinking from the pattern of pitches that he is still on a program because he really didn't use the fastball enough considering it was his best pitch and the only one he had consistent command of. The Red Sox must (understanably) want him throwing the cutter and slider more to get better command of them and they seem to be keeping him from throwing the curve too much.

This post has been edited by smastroyin: 25 May 2006 - 08:13 AM

[ese718xc]

I was sitting 2nd row, right behind home plate for last nights Lester outing. And I took down some notes that will compliment smastroyin's comments. Funny that I wrote, 'effectively wild' on my notes as well.

On the night, Lester threw first pitch strikes to only 6 of the 21 batters he faced according to my notes. 5 of those were first pitch fastballs for strikes, and the other was a 83mph cutter/slider.

Most of the game he was working 92-93 with his fastball and hitting 95 seemingly whenever he wanted a little extra. The curveball was 66-70 mph, according to the stadium gun.

In the first three innings he was working very high in the zone. It seemed that the majority of the time that he was missing, he was missing up.

With a man on 3rd in the 3rd inning and one out. Lester did a great job against Olmedo (the #2 hitter). In an approximately 8-9 pitch at bat, I counted lester throwing 5 cutters in on his hands that Olmedo was either missing or fouling off the other way. As a lefty against a righty batter, is was great to see Lester with an effective pitch that was able to get in on the righty hands and prevent solid contact, and the run. Lester actually got that K on the cutter. An interesting note, he didn't throw one curveball in the fairly lengthy AB with a man on 3rd. That might reflect his command of the pitch.

In that same inning after issuing a walk, he broken Gutierrez's bat with a cutter that produced a soft bouncer to Pedroia.

In the 4th he threw a changeup on a 3-1 count to Bannon that made him look foolish, I was glad to see him using some secondary pitches in hitters counts.

His trouble inning was the 5th with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out . He able to get Olmedo out in front of another change (80) on a 3-2 count to produce a weak pop to LF, and then gave up the grounder to deep short for the run.

Throughout the game, he did a very effective job with men in scoring position, throwing some very effective pitches to prevent damage.

I had Lester getting up 0-2 twice in the game producing the swinging K on a low changeup to Bannon and the other the rocket double to Sardinha. I had all of Lester's K's on secondary pitches.

Lester ran the count to 3 balls 7 times (or 1/3 of his batters faced), and I only had one four pitch walk.

[smastroyin]

A few notes were lost in the crash, I will try to pull them off of google cache, however I think everyone knows that Lester is in the majors for now, and I will not be updating this thread until he returns to the minors.

[Cuzittt]

Steve-

I'm going to close the thread for now since all indications are this is permanent. You can reopen it to add the past posts if you wish.

-Brandon

[Cuzittt]

Unlocked by request...