Jon Lester
P | Bats/Throws: L/L | 6' 4" 249LBS | Age: 40
Draft: 2002 | Rd: 2, #57, Boston Red Sox | Bellarmine Prep HS (Puyallup, WA)
W L ERA G GS SV IP SO WHIP
2019 13 10 4.46 31 31 0 171.2 165 1.50
2020 3 3 5.16 12 12 0 61 42 1.33
2021 7 6 4.71 28 28 0 141.1 91 1.51
16 Seasons 200 117 3.66 452 451 0 2,740 2,488 1.28
G W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
2019 31 13-10 4.46 171.2 165 1.50
2020 12 3-3 5.16 61 42 1.33
2021 28 7-6 4.71 141.1 91 1.51
16 Seasons 452 200-117 3.66 2,740 2,488 1.28
MLB Percentile Rankings
Pitch Distribution

Statcast Statistics

Season Age Pitches Batted
Balls
Barrels Barrel % Barrel/PA Exit
Velocity
Max EV Launch
Angle
Sweet
Spot %
XBA XSLG WOBA XWOBA XWOBACON HardHit% K% BB% ERA xERA
2015 31 3185 566 25 4.4 3.0 87.1 115.0 9.5 31.3 .225 .343 .289 .277 .340 28.4 25.0 5.7 3.34 3.12
2016 32 3161 541 22 4.1 2.8 87.4 112.6 11.6 31.2 .220 .339 .264 .272 .328 29.2 24.7 6.5 2.44 3.07
2017 33 3131 519 28 5.4 3.7 86.4 111.1 10.3 34.1 .241 .392 .320 .304 .365 29.5 23.6 7.9 4.33 3.95
2018 34 3121 542 36 6.6 4.7 88.7 113.1 13.7 38.9 .268 .449 .319 .342 .393 35.4 19.6 8.4 3.32 5.06
2019 35 3043 542 40 7.4 5.2 88.6 112.2 12.2 37.1 .274 .456 .344 .337 .402 34.7 21.6 6.8 4.46 5.09
2020 36 1008 203 25 12.3 9.4 88.9 112.5 11.9 34.0 .279 .517 .333 .363 .405 38.9 15.8 6.4 5.16 5.81
2021 37 2380 478 37 7.7 5.9 88.3 116.0 10.4 33.5 .274 .453 .352 .343 .370 37.2 14.5 8.8 4.71 5.09
Player 19029 3391 213 6.3 4.4 87.8 116.0 11.3 34.3 .251 .409 .314 .314 .369 32.7 21.5 7.2
MLB 6.9 4.7 88.4 122.4 12.2 33.1 .245 .406 .316 .315 .369 36.3 22.2 8.4
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Statcast Pitch Arsenal

Lester relies on 5 pitches.
Four Seamer
(31.1%) ,
Cutter
(25.6%) ,
Changeup
(18.2%) ,
Sinker
(16.7%) ,
Curveball
(8.4%) ,


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Pitch Tracking



Batted Ball Profile

Season GB % FB % LD % PU % Pull % Straight % Oppo % Weak % Topped % Under % Flare/Burner % Solid % Barrel % Barrel/PA
2015 50.5 17.0 25.6 6.9 37.3 36.0 25.6 4.2 38.7 21.9 24.2 3.5 4.4 3.0
2016 47.5 19.4 25.9 7.2 40.7 32.9 26.4 3.5 36.4 23.7 23.8 4.6 4.1 2.8
2017 47.8 20.6 26.8 4.8 34.5 40.8 24.7 4.2 35.5 21.4 25.8 5.6 5.4 3.7
2018 40.0 23.2 30.3 6.5 40.0 37.6 21.8 2.2 30.3 25.3 26.2 7.2 6.6 4.7
2019 43.9 20.7 29.9 5.5 38.7 37.6 23.6 3.3 31.0 22.5 28.6 5.7 7.4 5.2
2020 48.3 29.1 17.7 4.9 35.5 41.4 23.2 4.4 33.0 22.7 22.7 4.9 12.3 9.4
2021 44.8 25.5 24.3 5.4 35.8 41.2 23.0 5.4 34.5 23.4 22.8 6.1 7.7 5.9
Player 45.9 21.4 26.6 6.0 37.7 37.8 24.2 3.8 34.3 23.0 25.1 5.4 6.3 4.4
MLB 44.6 23.5 24.8 7.0 37.0 37.5 25.3 3.9 32.8 24.7 24.4 5.8 6.9 4.7
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Pitch Movement


How this works: Every pitch is affected by the forces of gravity, which means that every pitch drops on its way from the mound to the plate. These numbers are reported with gravity, which makes them larger and different than other pitch movement numbers you may have seen. Since gravity requires time, and slower pitches aren’t ‘better’ just because they have more time to move, the movement of a pitch is compared to ‘average’ movement by comparing it to other MLB pitch types within +/- 2 MPH and from within +/- 0.5 feet of extension and release.
Vertical Movement (inches) Horizontal Movement (inches)
Year Pitch Team Hand # MPH Inches of Drop vs Avg % vs Avg Inches of Break vs Avg % Break vs Avg
2021 Curveball STL L 201 72.6 57.8 -6.5 -10 10.3 -1.7 -14
2021 Cutter STL L 610 86.4 25.8 3.5 12 1.8 -1.0 -36
2021 Changeup STL L 431 81.3 34.4 1.1 3 10.9 -2.6 -19
2021 4-Seam Fastball STL L 739 88.7 20.0 -2.3 -13 5.0 -1.8 -27
2021 Sinker STL L 398 87.6 29.1 3.3 13 12.3 -1.9 -13
2020 4-Seam Fastball CHC L 293 89.4 18.8 -1.3 -7 7.1 0.4 5
2020 Sinker CHC L 153 88.4 27.7 2.5 10 13.6 -0.5 -3
2020 Curveball CHC L 129 73.4 55.6 -7.6 -12 10.6 -1.1 -9
2020 Cutter CHC L 307 87.4 24.6 3.6 13 0.5 -2.0 -79
2020 Changeup CHC L 126 83.3 32.5 0.3 1 13.5 0.2 1
2019 Curveball CHC L 468 74.5 55.3 -6.2 -10 11.5 0.2 1
2019 Changeup CHC L 362 84.3 31.4 0.2 1 13.5 -0.2 -2
2019 4-Seam Fastball CHC L 862 90.6 17.8 -0.4 -2 7.3 0.0 0
2019 Sinker CHC L 309 89.5 26.5 1.8 7 13.7 -0.6 -4
2019 Cutter CHC L 1,040 87.9 25.1 2.7 10 1.6 -0.3 -15
2018 Sinker CHC L 152 90.2 26.6 2.6 11 13.7 -0.7 -5
2018 Curveball CHC L 489 74.8 56.0 -5.4 -9 11.9 1.2 11
2018 Changeup CHC L 287 84.9 32.4 0.9 3 14.0 0.3 2
2018 4-Seam Fastball CHC L 1,413 91.0 17.5 -0.2 -1 7.7 0.3 4
2018 Cutter CHC L 767 88.1 25.1 2.2 8 1.8 -0.3 -12
2017 Changeup CHC L 266 84.6 30.9 1.2 4 13.0 -0.6 -5
2017 Sinker CHC L 371 90.3 25.4 2.6 12 14.0 -0.7 -5
2017 Curveball CHC L 410 75.6 53.2 -4.1 -7 10.8 0.6 6
2017 Cutter CHC L 887 87.8 24.9 1.9 7 3.0 1.1 58
2017 4-Seam Fastball CHC L 1,189 91.4 16.1 -0.3 -2 7.6 -0.3 -4
2016 Cutter CHC L 576 89.0 25.4 1.0 4 1.9 -0.5 -22
2016 Sinker CHC L 400 91.7 24.5 1.5 7 13.8 -0.1 -1
2016 4-Seam Fastball CHC L 1,570 92.7 15.7 1.1 6 7.7 0.3 4
2016 Curveball CHC L 390 75.1 55.8 -4.6 -8 11.2 -0.5 -5
2016 Changeup CHC L 152 85.4 30.7 -0.6 -2 14.4 1.4 11
2015 Cutter CHC L 750 88.5 27.5 -0.4 -1 3.2 1.0 47
2015 Curveball CHC L 484 75.5 54.7 -4.0 -7 11.7 0.8 8
2015 4-Seam Fastball CHC L 1,407 92.6 16.4 0.5 3 7.2 -0.3 -4
2015 Changeup CHC L 150 85.1 31.8 0.1 0 14.0 0.9 7
2015 Sinker CHC L 343 91.5 25.3 1.4 6 13.2 -1.3 -9
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
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Run Values by Pitch Type

Year Pitch Type Team RV/100 Run Value Pitches % PA BA SLG wOBA Whiff% K% PutAway % xBA xSLG xwOBA Hard Hit %
2021 4-Seam Fastball -1.3 -10 739 31.1 176 .338 .556 .421 16.3 14.2 13.8 .311 .523 .392 42.4
2021 Cutter -1.0 -6 610 25.6 157 .293 .536 .386 16.7 19.7 15.6 .253 .450 .340 35.1
2021 Changeup 1.2 5 432 18.2 120 .209 .300 .278 28.0 11.7 12.2 .280 .426 .334 33.0
2021 Sinker -1.2 -5 398 16.7 130 .297 .483 .367 14.6 9.2 17.6 .266 .419 .325 38.9
2021 Curveball -0.8 -2 201 8.4 39 .231 .462 .337 35.3 23.1 13.0 .205 .372 .245 30.0
2020 Cutter 0.7 2 307 30.5 98 .215 .419 .290 16.9 20.4 19.8 .258 .485 .332 37.0
2020 4-Seam Fastball -1.8 -5 293 29.1 76 .308 .631 .435 9.3 6.6 7.0 .335 .739 .478 47.5
2020 Sinker 1.7 3 153 15.2 36 .257 .286 .304 16.9 13.9 20.0 .220 .313 .244 40.0
2020 Curveball -1.4 -2 129 12.8 18 .375 .625 .458 30.0 22.2 11.1 .296 .474 .372 33.3
2020 Changeup 0.6 1 126 12.5 37 .257 .343 .334 32.4 21.6 19.5 .280 .416 .320 25.9
2019 Cutter 0.0 0 1,040 34.2 277 .283 .490 .371 18.6 23.5 20.4 .261 .444 .332 35.8
2019 4-Seam Fastball -0.4 -4 862 28.3 218 .305 .533 .389 15.4 19.3 17.3 .293 .545 .377 38.0
2019 Curveball 0.6 3 468 15.4 88 .220 .280 .264 39.9 36.4 20.3 .222 .303 .248 15.7
2019 Changeup -1.2 -4 362 11.9 99 .293 .413 .356 23.3 20.2 15.6 .259 .389 .304 26.0
2019 Sinker -2.4 -7 309 10.2 82 .382 .513 .457 17.7 7.3 15.8 .338 .512 .384 47.1
2018 4-Seam Fastball 0.3 4 1,413 45.3 312 .267 .481 .369 15.9 18.3 13.9 .294 .550 .403 42.9
2018 Cutter 0.3 3 767 24.6 220 .271 .414 .328 19.4 20.5 19.2 .262 .411 .318 31.3
2018 Curveball 0.1 0 489 15.7 90 .200 .271 .248 38.4 27.8 16.7 .220 .316 .266 32.8
2018 Changeup 2.1 6 287 9.2 92 .193 .261 .240 22.8 20.7 15.7 .224 .335 .262 27.5
2018 Sinker -3.2 -5 152 4.9 39 .405 .622 .455 14.3 5.1 9.1 .330 .523 .384 28.6
2017 4-Seam Fastball -0.4 -5 1,189 38.0 271 .297 .481 .375 18.4 21.8 17.0 .286 .490 .369 37.5
2017 Cutter 0.8 7 887 28.3 232 .241 .394 .309 22.9 22.4 21.7 .219 .326 .260 26.2
2017 Curveball -1.4 -6 410 13.1 87 .159 .390 .264 50.6 51.7 24.9 .158 .337 .233 27.0
2017 Sinker -1.2 -5 371 11.8 90 .305 .427 .356 18.8 6.7 10.2 .264 .376 .310 27.6
2017 Changeup 0.3 1 266 8.5 79 .239 .408 .324 32.4 22.8 18.4 .225 .345 .290 17.0
! Note: Years are in reverse order.
! Note: To better align with other values, positive numbers (red) are good, and negative numbers (blue) are poor.
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Spin Direction

Year Pitch Type Pitches MPH Active Spin % Total Movement (In.) Spin-Based Observed Deviation
2021 Changeup 429 81.3 71 12.7 11:00 9:45 75
2021 Curveball 201 72.6 66 13.7 4:00 4:15 -15
2021 Cutter 607 86.4 55 9.9 11:15 12:30 -75
2021 4-Seam Fastball 735 88.7 76 14.9 11:00 11:15 -15
2021 Sinker 394 87.6 73 13.8 11:00 9:45 75
2020 Changeup 114 83.2 80 15.1 10:45 9:45 60
2020 Curveball 122 73.4 63 13.4 4:00 4:00 0
2020 Cutter 262 87.4 59 10.0 11:15 12:15 -60
2020 4-Seam Fastball 269 89.3 82 16.3 10:45 11:00 -15
2020 Sinker 137 88.4 82 15.4 10:45 9:45 60
! Note: This table is showing data from the PITCHER perspective.
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Swing/Take

Runs
Year Team PA Pitches Heart Shadow Chase Waste All
2008 937 3,570 23 28 -6 -10 35
2009 863 3,477 12 43 -18 -11 27
2010 859 3,350 15 38 -17 -16 20
2011 795 3,170 11 28 -17 -15 7
2012 874 3,415 0 19 -18 -14 -13
2013 1036 4,082 17 28 -25 -14 6
2014 916 3,602 16 31 -13 -11 23
2015 879 3,397 7 32 -10 -12 17
2016 932 3,670 34 43 -14 -15 47
2017 814 3,367 -8 36 -15 -16 -3
2018 776 3,194 10 40 -24 -16 11
2019 764 3,042 -13 35 -22 -13 -13
2020 265 1,008 1 12 -8 -7 -2
2021 622 2,380 2 20 -28 -12 -17
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Plate Discipline

Season Pitches Zone % Zone Swing % Zone Contact % Chase % Chase Contact % Edge % 1st Pitch Strike % Swing % Whiff % Meatball % Meatball Swing %
2015 3,185 43.7 65.6 84.4 30.5 57.9 41.8 61.3 45.9 24.2 5.9 77.1
2016 3,161 46.5 67.9 84.6 29.1 56.2 42.5 63.1 47.1 23.8 6.2 73.0
2017 3,131 43.3 67.2 82.4 28.8 59.1 44.5 58.1 45.4 25.0 5.4 80.6
2018 3,121 47.4 68.1 84.6 22.7 61.8 42.0 57.4 44.3 20.3 6.7 80.8
2019 3,043 44.0 68.2 84.1 28.1 66.8 43.3 58.9 45.7 21.0 5.0 81.6
2020 1,008 44.4 67.4 88.1 25.9 67.6 40.9 58.9 44.3 18.1 6.1 82.0
2021 2,380 44.0 70.5 83.4 27.4 69.6 42.6 56.9 46.4 20.0 5.9 86.5
Player 19,029 44.8 67.8 84.2 27.8 61.7 42.7 59.4 45.7 22.3 5.9 79.7
MLB 48.6 66.9 82.0 28.4 58.0 42.6 60.9 47.1 24.8 7.3 76.1
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Percentile Rankings

Year xwOBA /
xERA
xBA xSLG xISO xOBP Brl Brl% EV Hard
Hit%
K% BB% Whiff% Chase
Rate
FB
Velo
FB
Spin
CB
Spin
Extension
2015 80 73 76 75 83 19 67 78 85 78 78 63 60 45 46 63 58
2016 87 81 83 79 89 32 83 78 86 75 72 56 51 42 57 64 74
2017 61 55 58 57 65 17 60 69 78 63 57 55 63 23 37 56 75
2018 14 13 15 20 20 9 45 37 48 31 46 17 4 22 47 64 69
2019 24 13 25 38 34 6 41 50 65 41 71 17 39 12 43 64 72
2020 14 14 8 10 34 1 7 38 38 9 77 4 31 7 31 55 68
2021 19 14 22 33 17 10 51 60 62 4 42 9 45 3 27 45 64
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Expected Home Runs

Year Team Avg HR Trot Actual HR xHR HR-xHR Doubters Mostly Gone No Doubters No Doubter %
2016 20.8 24 20.1 4 12 10 11 45.8
2017 21.6 27 27.4 0 14 23 11 40.7
2018 22.9 24 24.3 0 12 19 9 37.5
2019 23.1 26 23.9 2 14 16 11 42.3
2020 22.5 11 9.3 2 7 6 4 36.4
2021 22.9 25 24.5 1 9 16 12 48.0
Player 22.3 137 129.5 8 68 90 58 42.3

Expected Home Runs by Park

Year HR
2016 24 22 19 22 21 17 21 20 17 16 19 25 20 18 17 21 15 17 24 20 19 21 23 25 17 17 18 26 24 23 18
2017 27 28 23 28 33 27 33 26 24 20 30 37 22 26 28 27 22 24 28 30 27 28 34 30 24 23 25 35 30 29 22
2018 24 29 23 22 26 25 28 22 21 22 25 32 25 23 25 24 23 21 23 27 25 20 30 26 23 19 24 26 26 24 20
2019 26 28 19 22 27 24 29 24 19 16 22 27 27 24 23 21 21 19 25 27 25 28 27 29 23 20 21 30 31 23 15
2020 11 10 11 10 8 10 11 8 6 6 7 11 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 11 12 12 10 8 7 10 10 11 9 8
2021 25 32 23 19 28 22 28 23 19 15 19 24 20 20 23 30 20 21 28 26 23 32 32 31 19 22 30 27 26 26 27
Player 137 149 118 123 143 125 150 123 106 95 122 156 123 120 125 132 110 111 138 140 130 141 158 151 114 108 128 154 148 134 110
! Note: This tells how many of this player's home runs would have been out of other stadiums. This accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects. For these purposes, the 2020 Blue Jays home field was still Rogers Centre, not Sahlen Field.
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Year to Year Changes

Metric 2015 2016 +/-   2017 +/-   2018 +/-   2019 +/-   2020 +/-   2021 +/-  
Fastball Velocity 91.2 91.7 0.5 89.9 -1.8 90.0 0.1 89.1 -0.9 88.4 -0.7 87.6 -0.8
Offspeed Velocity 85.1 85.4 0.3 84.6 -0.8 84.9 0.3 84.3 -0.6 83.3 -1.0 81.3 -2.0
Breaking Velocity 75.5 75.0 -0.5 75.6 0.6 74.8 -0.8 74.5 -0.3 73.4 -1.1 72.6 -0.8
Exit Velocity 87.1 87.4 0.3 86.4 -1.0 88.7 2.3 88.6 -0.1 88.9 0.3 88.3 -0.6
Launch Angle 9.5 11.6 2.1 10.3 -1.3 13.7 3.4 12.2 -1.5 11.9 -0.3 10.4 -1.5
Barrel % 4.4 4.1 -0.3 5.4 1.3 6.6 1.2 7.4 0.8 12.3 4.9 7.7 -4.6
Hard Hit % 28.4 29.2 0.8 29.5 0.3 35.4 5.9 34.7 -0.7 38.9 4.2 37.2 -1.7
Sweet Spot % 31.3 31.2 -0.1 34.1 2.9 38.9 4.8 37.1 -1.8 34.0 -3.1 33.5 -0.5
xBA .225 .220 -0.005 .241 0.021 .268 0.027 .274 0.006 .279 0.005 .274 -0.005
BA .240 .211 -0.029 .259 0.048 .256 -0.003 .294 0.038 .262 -0.032 .285 0.023
xwOBA .277 .272 -0.005 .304 0.032 .342 0.038 .337 -0.005 .363 0.026 .343 -0.020
wOBA .289 .264 -0.025 .320 0.056 .319 -0.001 .344 0.025 .333 -0.011 .352 0.019
xSLG .343 .339 -0.004 .392 0.053 .449 0.057 .456 0.007 .517 0.061 .453 -0.064
SLG .373 .334 -0.039 .430 0.096 .410 -0.020 .470 0.060 .459 -0.011 .478 0.019
K% 25.0 24.7 -0.3 23.6 -1.1 19.6 -4.0 21.6 2.0 15.8 -5.8 14.5 -1.3
BB% 5.7 6.5 0.8 7.9 1.4 8.4 0.5 6.8 -1.6 6.4 -0.4 8.8 2.4
Swing % 45.9 47.1 1.2 45.4 -1.7 44.3 -1.1 45.7 1.4 44.3 -1.4 46.4 2.1
Whiff% 24.2 23.8 -0.4 25.0 1.2 20.3 -4.7 21.0 0.7 18.1 -2.9 20.0 1.9
In Zone % 43.7 46.5 2.8 43.3 -3.2 47.4 4.1 44.0 -3.4 44.4 0.4 44.0 -0.4
Out of Zone % 56.3 53.5 -2.8 56.7 3.2 52.6 -4.1 56.0 3.4 55.6 -0.4 56.0 0.4
Out of Zone Swing % 30.5 29.1 -1.4 28.8 -0.3 22.7 -6.1 28.1 5.4 25.9 -2.2 27.4 1.5
First Pitch Swing % 28.2 30.7 2.5 26.3 -4.4 24.2 -2.1 27.6 3.4 25.7 -1.9 29.2 3.5
First Pitch Strike % 61.3 63.1 1.8 58.1 -5.0 57.4 -0.7 58.9 1.5 58.9 0.0 56.9 -2.0
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Statcast Fielder Positioning

vs RHHvs LHH
YearAlignment TypePAwOBAPATotal%PATotal%
2016 Shifts 777 .261 600 20 3.3 177 22 12.4
2017 Shifts 758 .320 589 4 0.7 169 9 5.3
2018 Shifts 756 .321 600 70 11.7 156 17 10.9
2019 Shifts 764 .344 588 59 10.0 176 34 19.3
2020 Shifts 265 .333 232 72 31.0 33 19 57.6
2021 Shifts 622 .352 492 85 17.3 130 49 37.7
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field.
Learn more about how positioning is defined here

Pitch Tempo

Bases EmptyRunners On Base
SeasonTeamPitchesTempoFast %Slow %PitchesTempoFast %Slow %
2010 1020 17.0 24.2% 2.5% 551 24.0 0.4% 12.7%
2011 891 17.7 17.8% 2.7% 510 25.5 0.0% 16.5%
2012 958 16.5 31.8% 1.4% 605 24.6 0.3% 12.2%
2013 1002 16.1 37.3% 1.2% 636 23.8 0.8% 9.9%
2014 1061 16.6 31.0% 2.0% 574 22.7 0.0% 10.3%
2015 953 17.6 28.9% 4.5% 535 24.1 3.4% 23.0%
2016 1017 18.0 24.4% 4.8% 444 24.3 1.6% 25.7%
2017 974 15.9 40.7% 1.0% 501 22.8 0.2% 8.0%
2018 974 16.3 35.1% 0.7% 536 22.0 0.7% 10.4%
2019 854 17.0 28.3% 1.4% 577 23.7 0.0% 8.3%
2020 303 16.7 31.4% 0.7% 187 23.4 0.0% 6.4%
2021 706 16.6 30.9% 1.4% 414 23.5 0.2% 11.6%
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Pitch Distribution


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