Players · L · Pitcher · 2021

Jon Lester

Washington Nationals National League East

Age: 37
B/T: L/L
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 249 lb
Number: #34

Born: January 7, 1984 in Tacoma, WA, United States
MLB debut: June 10, 2006

dbWAR: 16.7
IP: 141.1
ERA: 4.71
FIP: 5.41
K/9: 5.8
FIP−: 127

Jon Lester was a starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals. In 2021 he struck out 91 batters over 141.1 innings across 28 appearances, 28 of them starts, going 7-6. His ERA of 4.71 was 10.5% higher than the league average of 4.27 — 14th of 23 on his team, and 369th of 567 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.41 FIP suggests that his ERA had some help behind him. He missed bats on 20.1% of swings (9.3% of every pitch he threw), walked 8.8% of the batters he faced and struck out 14.5%. His -0.2 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2021.

FIP5.41

K/95.8

WHIP1.51

WAR-.2

WAR by season

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.


2021	WSH/STL	28	28	141.1	7	6	159	74	91	55	4.71	5.41	1.51	5.8	3.5	110	127	-0.2
2020	CHC	12	12	61.0	3	3	64	35	42	17	5.16	5.14	1.33	6.2	2.5	116	115	0.3
2019	CHC	31	31	171.2	13	10	205	85	165	52	4.46	4.26	1.50	8.7	2.7	99	94	2.5
2018	CHC	32	32	181.2	18	6	174	67	149	64	3.32	4.39	1.31	7.4	3.2	80	106	1.8
2017	CHC	32	32	180.2	13	8	179	87	180	60	4.33	4.10	1.32	9.0	3.0	99	94	2.9
2016	CHC	32	32	202.2	19	5	154	55	197	52	2.44	3.41	1.02	8.7	2.3	58	81	4.1
2015	CHC	32	32	205.0	11	12	183	76	207	47	3.34	2.92	1.12	9.1	2.1	84	74	4.9

Batting

Standard and advanced, by season.


2021	WSH/STL	27	51	8	1	3	0	2	24	.167	.200	.271	.104	.304	3.9%	47.1%	.206	-4.7	24	0.3
2019	CHC	28	53	9	1	6	0	5	20	.188	.264	.292	.104	.296	9.4%	37.7%	.249	-3.4	51	0.4
2018	CHC	31	65	7	1	9	0	0	22	.119	.119	.169	.051	.167	0.0%	33.8%	.124	-10.2	-34	-0.1
2017	CHC	28	65	8	1	6	1	4	26	.148	.203	.259	.111	.250	6.2%	40.0%	.206	-6.4	18	0.4
2016	CHC	30	75	6	0	6	0	6	18	.102	.185	.153	.051	.146	8.0%	24.0%	.163	-9.5	-7	-0.0
2015	CHC	29	71	4	0	0	0	3	30	.065	.108	.065	.000	.125	4.2%	42.3%	.087	-12.9	-63	-0.4

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2021. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	131	118	29	3	7	19	.246	.287	.373	.282	14.5%
vs RHB	496	440	130	22	48	72	.295	.366	.507	.373	14.5%

Spray chart

Where every ball he put in play landed, 2021.

Loading 25 batted balls…

Hot and cold zones

Batting average by pitch location, 2021.

Below averageLeague averageAbove average

Batting average by location of the pitch that ended each plate appearance, catcher's view. The bordered square is the strike zone; the outer band is chase territory. Cells with fewer than 8 at-bats are left grey rather than shown as signal. League average on the same attribution is .243.

Pitch sequencing

What Jon Lester throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

Four-seamCutterChangeupSinkerCurveball

Select a count to see exactly what Jon Lester throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	31.1%	741	88.7	2,172	45.6%	16.6%	151	.338	.966
Cutter	25.5%	608	86.4	2,304	42.6%	16.7%	140	.293	.896
Changeup	18.2%	432	81.3	1,737	36.3%	28.0%	110	.209	.579
Sinker	16.7%	398	87.6	2,041	35.4%	14.6%	118	.297	.837
Curveball	8.4%	201	72.6	2,437	39.8%	35.3%	39	.231	.692

Jon Lester's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

Head to head

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Jon Lester

Similar players

Nearest 2021 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Dallas KeuchelCWS

ERA: 5.28
FIP: 5.23
SO: 95
WAR: 0.2

Very close

Vladimir GutierrezCIN

ERA: 4.74
FIP: 5.22
SO: 88
WAR: 0.4

Very close

Daniel CastanoMIA

ERA: 4.87
FIP: 5.14
SO: 13
WAR: 0.0

Very close

Bryse WilsonPIT

ERA: 5.35
FIP: 5.49
SO: 46
WAR: -0.1

Very close

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.