Jon Lester
P | B/T: L/L | 6' 4" 249LBS | Age: 39
Draft: 2002 | Rd: 2, #57, Boston Red Sox | Bellarmine Prep HS (Puyallup, WA)

Stats

W L ERA G GS SV IP SO WHIP
2021 3 5 5.02 16 16 0 75.1 51 1.59
16 Seasons 200 117 3.66 452 451 0 2740.0 2488 1.28
G W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
2021 16 3-5 5.02 75.1 51 1.59
16 Seasons 452 200-117 3.66 2740.0 2488 1.28

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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 .340 .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 .343 .393 35.4 19.6 8.4 3.32 5.09
2019 35 3043 542 40 7.4 5.2 88.6 112.2 12.2 37.1 .274 .456 .344 .337 .403 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 .344 .370 37.2 14.5 8.8 4.71 5.12
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 6.7 4.6 88.4 122.4 12.1 33.0 .245 .405 .316 .315 .368 35.8 22.1 8.4
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Statcast Pitch Arsenal

Lester relies on 5 pitches.
4-Seam Fastball
(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 44.9 23.1 25.0 7.1 36.8 37.7 25.4 3.8 33.0 24.6 24.4 5.7 6.7 4.6
! Note: All figures in this table cover the period 2015-present.

Pitch Movement

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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 Sinker STL L 398 87.6 29.1 3.3 13 12.3 -1.9 -13
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 4-Seamer STL L 739 88.7 20.0 -2.3 -13 5.0 -1.8 -27
2021 Changeup STL L 431 81.3 34.4 1.1 3 10.9 -2.6 -19
2020 Changeup CHC L 126 83.3 32.5 0.3 1 13.5 0.2 2
2020 Sinker CHC L 153 88.4 27.7 2.5 10 13.6 -0.5 -4
2020 Curveball CHC L 129 73.4 55.6 -7.6 -12 10.6 -1.1 -9
2020 4-Seamer CHC L 293 89.4 18.8 -1.3 -7 7.1 0.4 5
2020 Cutter CHC L 307 87.4 24.6 3.6 13 0.5 -2.0 -79
2019 Sinker CHC L 309 89.5 26.5 1.8 7 13.7 -0.6 -4
2019 Changeup CHC L 362 84.3 31.4 0.2 1 13.5 -0.2 -2
2019 Curveball CHC L 468 74.5 55.3 -6.2 -10 11.5 0.1 1
2019 Cutter CHC L 1,040 87.9 25.1 2.7 10 1.6 -0.3 -14
2019 4-Seamer CHC L 862 90.6 17.8 -0.4 -2 7.3 0.0 0
2018 Sinker CHC L 152 90.2 26.6 2.6 11 13.7 -0.7 -5
2018 Cutter CHC L 767 88.1 25.1 2.2 8 1.8 -0.2 -11
2018 4-Seamer CHC L 1,413 91.0 17.5 -0.2 -1 7.7 0.3 4
2018 Changeup CHC L 287 84.9 32.4 0.9 3 14.0 0.4 3
2018 Curveball CHC L 489 74.8 56.0 -5.3 -9 11.9 1.2 11
2017 Changeup CHC L 266 84.6 30.9 1.1 4 13.0 -0.5 -4
2017 4-Seamer CHC L 1,189 91.4 16.1 -0.3 -2 7.6 -0.3 -4
2017 Cutter CHC L 887 87.8 24.9 1.8 7 3.0 1.1 57
2017 Curveball CHC L 410 75.6 53.2 -4.1 -7 10.8 0.5 5
2017 Sinker CHC L 371 90.3 25.4 2.6 12 14.0 -0.7 -5
2016 Changeup CHC L 152 85.4 29.8 0.5 2 14.4 1.4 11
2016 Cutter CHC L 576 89.0 24.5 0.1 0 1.9 -0.6 -23
2016 4-Seamer CHC L 1,570 92.7 14.8 0.2 1 7.7 0.2 3
2016 Curveball CHC L 390 75.1 54.7 -3.3 -6 11.2 -0.7 -6
2016 Sinker CHC L 400 91.7 22.5 1.7 8 13.8 -0.2 -1
! 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-Seamer 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 .281 .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 .206 .373 .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-Seamer 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 .221 .314 .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 .333 35.8
2019 4-Seamer 0.5 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 .260 .390 .305 26.0
2019 Sinker 2.4 7 309 10.2 82 .382 .513 .457 17.7 7.3 15.8 .339 .513 .384 47.1
2018 4-Seamer -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 .225 .336 .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-Seamer 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 .377 .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.
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Spin Direction

Year Pitch Type Pitches MPH Active Spin % Total Movement (In.) Spin-Based Observed Deviation
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
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
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! 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 -26
2010 859 3,350 -15 -39 17 16 -21
2011 795 3,170 -11 -28 17 15 -7
2012 874 3,415 0 -18 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 -33 -43 14 15 -47
2017 814 3,367 8 -35 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 48.5 66.9 82.0 28.4 58.3 42.6 60.8 47.1 24.7 7.2 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 79 85 78 78 63 60 30 53 63 52
2016 87 81 83 80 89 32 83 78 86 75 72 56 51 34 63 64 70
2017 61 55 59 57 65 17 60 69 78 63 57 55 63 15 51 56 68
2018 14 13 15 20 19 9 45 37 48 31 46 17 4 15 60 64 61
2019 24 13 25 38 33 6 41 50 65 41 71 17 39 7 60 63 61
2020 14 14 8 10 34 1 7 38 38 9 77 4 31 6 44 56 68
2021 18 14 22 33 17 10 51 60 62 4 42 9 45 3 39 45 63
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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 19.8 4 13 10 11 45.8
2017 21.6 27 26.9 0 13 23 10 37.0
2018 22.9 24 24.2 0 12 16 10 41.7
2019 23.1 26 23.9 2 14 16 11 42.3
2020 22.5 11 9.8 1 5 9 4 36.4
2021 22.9 25 25.5 -1 11 17 13 52.0
Player 22.3 137 130.1 7 68 91 59 43.1

Expected Home Runs by Park

Year HR
2016 24 18 26 18 17 21 17 22 20 20 20 18 16 17 20 20 19 22 18 21 28 15 17 23 19 20 25 17 21 16 23
2017 27 22 35 25 26 28 26 27 31 26 28 26 19 24 28 33 26 29 19 28 35 22 25 28 28 29 29 24 27 21 34
2018 24 25 29 22 24 25 25 30 25 25 22 23 21 20 23 26 22 26 19 25 27 23 23 24 27 26 27 20 21 23 28
2019 26 25 28 25 22 21 24 28 27 21 22 24 16 20 21 29 22 31 15 23 29 21 19 26 26 27 29 21 26 22 27
2020 11 9 10 10 10 9 0 11 9 10 12 8 6 7 7 13 9 11 7 11 11 11 9 11 11 12 10 7 12 8 13
2021 25 20 28 23 24 32 23 31 27 29 19 23 17 19 19 28 32 27 29 26 29 21 20 27 23 29 33 21 33 19 33
Player 137 119 156 123 123 136 115 149 139 131 123 122 95 107 118 149 130 146 107 134 159 113 113 139 134 143 153 110 140 109 158
! 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 +/-   2022 +/-  
Fastball Velocity 91.2 91.7 0.5 ↑ 89.9 -1.8 ↓ 90 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 ↓ 81.3 -2 ↓
Breaking Velocity 75.5 75 -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 ↓ 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 -3.1 ↓ 33.5 -0.5 ↓
xBA .225 .22 -0.005 ↓ .241 0.021 ↑ .268 0.027 ↑ .274 0.006 ↑ .279 0.005 ↑ .274 -0.005 ↓
BA .24 .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 ↑ .343 0.039 ↑ .337 -0.006 ↓ .363 0.026 ↑ .344 -0.019 ↓
wOBA .289 .264 -0.025 ↓ .32 0.056 ↑ .319 -0.001 ↓ .344 0.025 ↑ .333 -0.011 ↓ .352 0.019 ↑
xSLG .343 .34 -0.003 ↓ .392 0.052 ↑ .449 0.057 ↑ .456 0.007 ↑ .517 0.061 ↑ .453 -0.064 ↓
SLG .373 .334 -0.039 ↓ .43 0.096 ↑ .41 -0.02 ↓ .47 0.06 ↑ .459 -0.011 ↓ .478 0.019 ↑
K% 25 24.7 -0.3 ↓ 23.6 -1.1 ↓ 19.6 -4 ↓ 21.6 2 ↑ 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 1.2 ↑ 20.3 -4.7 ↓ 21 0.7 ↑ 18.1 -2.9