Ok, well I watched Lester pitch last night and it was the second time I've seen him pitch (Both against the Royals) and just wanted to give my thoughts for anyone who cares (not many........ )
- Fastball 89-92
- Solid curveball, not great but not bad
- Solid slider, better than the curve
- never really saw a change of any kind
He throws pretty effortlessly, so I wouldn't put him in the category of a potential injury because of mechanics or anything like that. He does throw "across" his body which should make him a little harder to hit from the left side since he pretty much steps right at a left handed batter. Though I think, while his ERA is better against lefties, his avg against them isn't, which should change. He keeps the ball down very well, I'm impressed with that!! Though he is struggling with his control, he misses in "good" spots, he doesn't seem to miss out over the plate.
Overall, I'm actually not impressed....... I was expecting someone who would be dominate and a potential ace but I don't see that. He's not overpowering and doesn't have a dominate "out" pitch, nor did I witness any good offspeed stuff. I'd see him top out as a good #3 on a good team and maybe a #2. With all that said, I have only seen him pitch 2 games, so it is what it is.
I'd like to hear from some others who have seen him throw more than a couple times to see if they saw anything different.
I pretty much agree with most everything you said. He can be a #2/#3 SP to me, it's just all going to depend on his slider and change up as he progresses. He isn't one of those pitchers to me that really "wows" you when you see him. To me he goes out there w/ some good stuff, does the little things that you can see where he could turn into a pretty good pitcher ... but not an ace IMO.
He just seems to be "nibbling" too much and not trusting his stuff. Every game I've watched him pitch, it seems that he hits 100 pitches by the 5th inning.
winterball22 wrote:He just seems to be "nibbling" too much and not trusting his stuff. Every game I've watched him pitch, it seems that he hits 100 pitches by the 5th inning.
Not that I mean to compare the two, but I remember that was a pretty big knock against Johan Santana about 3 years ago. Obviously that has changed some...
J35J wrote:Ok, well I watched Lester pitch last night and it was the second time I've seen him pitch (Both against the Royals) and just wanted to give my thoughts for anyone who cares (not many........ )
- Fastball 89-92 - Solid curveball, not great but not bad - Solid slider, better than the curve - never really saw a change of any kind
He throws pretty effortlessly, so I wouldn't put him in the category of a potential injury because of mechanics or anything like that. He does throw "across" his body which should make him a little harder to hit from the left side since he pretty much steps right at a left handed batter. Though I think, while his ERA is better against lefties, his avg against them isn't, which should change. He keeps the ball down very well, I'm impressed with that!! Though he is struggling with his control, he misses in "good" spots, he doesn't seem to miss out over the plate.
Overall, I'm actually not impressed....... I was expecting someone who would be dominate and a potential ace but I don't see that. He's not overpowering and doesn't have a dominate "out" pitch, nor did I witness any good offspeed stuff. I'd see him top out as a good #3 on a good team and maybe a #2. With all that said, I have only seen him pitch 2 games, so it is what it is.
I'd like to hear from some others who have seen him throw more than a couple times to see if they saw anything different.
Jason
A solid number two or three would be fine by me. No one was expecting him to be Liriano.
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He's turned cold recently... I'm kinda worried about him the rest of the way now that teams have seen him... I'm (still) thinking of dropping him for the next new thing. I probably would have booted him earlier if it wasn't for his two start week this week.
yep, that's what I read about him. His fastball isn't all that consistently dominating but is a good enough pitch to setup his breaking pitches. Way to go for me to pick when to go to the K. Last 2 nights has been amazing. And we are going to get eat alive today
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Just remember that Verlander and Liriano both got lit up last year. Lester is young, 22 years old and learning. He's expected to be inconsistent this year.
scr wrote:Just remember that Verlander and Liriano both got lit up last year. Lester is young, 22 years old and learning. He's expected to be inconsistent this year.
Thats a silly comparison. Verlander and Liriano both have electric stuff!!! Lester.....well......doesn't.
Having only seen the 2 games VS the Royals, you deffinitly have not seen the best of Lester this year. As a Sox fan I see him every fifth day and have to say this season has been an up and down season for him, wheras when he hit "rock bottom" it wasnt that bad. I saw him at the end of June in Florida, which was his 5th start I believe and since then he has not had his velocity, which was consistantly at 95 MPH when first coming to the majors. So all in all, his lower velocity, his inability to go deep into games has him as a solid number 3 this season, but I think thats all going to come to him with experience in the league. He has shown flashes of brilliance and within the next few years I expect a solid # 2 starter. All in all, this year he gives the sox a chance to win most of the time he pitches. Regardless, A lefty who has the ability to hit 95 on the gun? I gotta get excited about that...[/i]
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by J35J » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:41 am 
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