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Jon Lester

Jonathan Tyler Lester

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Left, Throws: Left
Height: 6' 4", Weight: 240 lb.

Born: January 7, 1984 in Tacoma, WA
High School: Bellarmine Prep (Tacoma, WA)
Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 2nd round of the 2002 amateur draft.
Signed August 13, 2002. (All Transactions)
Debut: June 10, 2006
Team: RedSox 2006-2011
2012 Contract Status: Signed thru 2013, 5 yrs/$30M (09-13) & 14 team option (details) [*]
Service Time (01/2012): 5.075, Free Agent: 2014 [*], Agents: Josh Yates, SFX Baseball, previously: Octagon [*]
About biographical information

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Fine Details · Last Updated Feb 8, 2012, 9:07AM

All-Time Rank (among Pitchers): #191. Slim Sallee… #192. Larry French… #193. Adam Wainwright… #194. JON LESTER… #195. Jeff Pfeffer… #196. Lew Burdette… #197. Mel Parnell…

All-Time Rank (among Pitchers): #191. Slim Sallee… #192. Larry French… #193. Adam Wainwright… #194. JON LESTER… #195. Jeff Pfeffer… #196. Lew Burdette… #197. Mel Parnell…

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB	Awards
2002	18	BOS-min	Rk	0	1	.000	13.50	1	1	0	0	0	0.2	5	6	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	8		9.000	67.5	0.0	13.5	13.5	1.00	RES · GULF
2003	19	BOS-min	A	6	9	.400	3.65	24	21	2	0	0	106.0	102	54	43	7	44	0	71	8	0	2	452		1.377	8.7	0.6	3.7	6.0	1.61	AUG · SALL
2004	20	BOS-min	A+,Rk	7	6	.538	4.24	22	21	0	0	0	91.1	82	46	43	2	39	0	98	3	1	2	387		1.325	8.1	0.2	3.8	9.7	2.51	SAR,RES · FLOR,GULF
2005	21	BOS-min	AA	11	6	.647	2.61	26	26	0	3	1	148.1	114	52	43	10	57	3	163	4	1	10	602		1.153	6.9	0.6	3.5	9.9	2.86	PRT · EL
2006	22	BOS-min	AAA	3	4	.429	2.70	11	11	0	0	0	46.2	43	17	14	5	25	0	43	0	0	0	207		1.457	8.3	1.0	4.8	8.3	1.72	PAW · IL
2006	22	BOS	AL	7	2	.778	4.76	15	15	0	0	0	81.1	91	43	43	7	43	1	60	5	0	5	367	100	1.648	10.1	0.8	4.8	6.6	1.40
2007	23	BOS-min	AAA,A,AA	5	5	.500	3.47	18	18	0	2	0	90.2	83	36	35	6	37	0	70	3	0	4	384		1.324	8.2	0.6	3.7	6.9	1.89	PAW,GRV,PRT · IL,SALL,EL
2007	23	BOS	AL	4	0	1.000	4.57	12	11	0	0	0	63.0	61	33	32	10	31	0	50	1	0	1	275	104	1.460	8.7	1.4	4.4	7.1	1.61
2008	24	BOS	AL	16	6	.727	3.21	33	33	0	2	2	210.1	202	78	75	14	66	1	152	10	1	3	874	144	1.274	8.6	0.6	2.8	6.5	2.30
2009	25	BOS	AL	15	8	.652	3.41	32	32	0	2	0	203.1	186	80	77	20	64	0	225	3	0	6	843	138	1.230	8.2	0.9	2.8	10.0	3.52
2010	26	BOS	AL	19	9	.679	3.25	32	32	0	2	0	208.0	167	81	75	14	83	0	225	10	0	6	861	134	1.202	7.2	0.6	3.6	9.7	2.71	AS,CYA-4
2011	27	BOS	AL	15	9	.625	3.47	31	31	0	0	0	191.2	166	77	74	20	75	0	182	11	0	4	799	122	1.257	7.8	0.9	3.5	8.5	2.43	AS
6 Seasons				76	34	.691	3.53	155	154	0	6	2	957.2	873	392	376	85	362	2	894	40	1	25	4019	128	1.290	8.2	0.8	3.4	8.4	2.47
162 Game Avg.				17	7	.691	3.53	34	34	0	1	0	211	192	86	83	19	80	0	197	9	0	6	884	128	1.290	8.2	0.8	3.4	8.4	2.47

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR: 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Strtr, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	IP	GS	R	Rrep	Rdef	aLI	RAR	WAR	Salary	Awards
2006	22	BOS	AL	81.1	15	43	55	1	1.2	12	1.3	$
2007	23	BOS	AL	63.0	11	33	39	3	1.0	6	0.6	$384,000
2008	24	BOS	AL	210.1	33	78	138	4	.9	60	5.6	$421,500
2009	25	BOS	AL	203.1	32	80	139	0	1.0	59	5.6	$1,000,000
2010	26	BOS	AL	208.0	32	81	131	3	1.0	50	5.0	$3,750,000	AS,CYA-4
2011	27	BOS	AL	191.2	31	77	127	0	1.0	50	4.8	$5,750,000	AS
6 Seasons				957.2	154	392	629	11	1.0	237	22.9	$11,305,500

Postseason Pitching

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Rslt	Opp	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2007	23	BOS	AL	ALCS	W	CLE	0	0		4.91	2	0	2	3.2	3	2	2	1	1	5	15	1.091	7.4	2.5	2.5	12.3	5.00
2007	23	BOS	AL	WS	W	COL	1	0	1.000	0.00	1	1	0	5.2	3	0	0	0	3	3	23	1.059	4.8	0.0	4.8	4.8	1.00
2008	24	BOS	AL	ALDS	W	LAA	1	0	1.000	0.00	2	2	0	14.0	10	1	0	0	3	11	56	0.929	6.4	0.0	1.9	7.1	3.67
2008	24	BOS	AL	ALCS	L	TBR	0	2	.000	4.97	2	2	0	12.2	14	8	7	3	2	15	53	1.263	9.9	2.1	1.4	10.7	7.50
2009	25	BOS	AL	ALDS	L	LAA	0	1	.000	4.50	1	1	0	6.0	4	3	3	1	4	5	28	1.333	6.0	1.5	6.0	7.5	1.25
3 Seasons (5 Series)							2	3	.400	2.57	8	6	2	42.0	34	14	12	5	13	39	175	1.119	7.3	1.1	2.8	8.4	3.00
2 ALDS							1	1	.500	1.35	3	3	0	20.0	14	4	3	1	7	16	84	1.050	6.3	0.5	3.2	7.2	2.29
2 ALCS							0	2	.000	4.96	4	2	2	16.1	17	10	9	4	3	20	68	1.224	9.4	2.2	1.7	11.0	6.67
1 WS							1	0	1.000	0.00	1	1	0	5.2	3	0	0	0	3	3	23	1.059	4.8	0.0	4.8	4.8	1.00

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	SH	SF	Pos	Awards
2002	18	BOS-min	Rk	1	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	RES · GULF
2003	19	BOS-min	A	24	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	AUG · SALL
2004	20	BOS-min	Rk,A+	22	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	RES,SAR · GULF,FLOR
2005	21	BOS-min	AA	26	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	PRT · EL
2006	22	BOS-min	AAA	11	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	PAW · IL
2006	22	BOS	AL	15	4	4	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	1
2007	23	BOS-min	A,AAA,AA	18	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	GRV,PAW,PRT · SALL,IL,EL
2007	23	BOS	AL	12	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	1
2008	24	BOS	AL	33	5	5	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	1
2009	25	BOS	AL	32	5	3	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	2	0	1
2010	26	BOS	AL	32	6	3	1	1	2	.000	.200	.000	.200	-40	1	1	1	AS,CYA-4
2011	27	BOS	AL	2	5	5	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	1	AS
6 Seasons				126	25	20	1	1	12	.000	.045	.000	.045	-87	3	1
162 Game Avg.				162	32	26	1	1	15	.000	.045	.000	.045	-87	4	1

Player Value--Batters

WAR: 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Strtr, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	PA	Rbat	Rbaser	Rroe	Rdp	Rfield	Rpos	Rrep	RAR	WAR	oRAR	oWAR	dWAR	Salary	Pos	Awards
2006	22	BOS	AL	4	-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$	1

2008	24	BOS	AL	5	-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$421,500	1
2009	25	BOS	AL	5	-1	0	-0	0	0	0	0	-1	-0.1	-1	-0.1	0.0	$1,000,000	1
2010	26	BOS	AL	6	-1	0	-0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$3,750,000	1	AS,CYA-4
2011	27	BOS	AL	5	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-1	-0.1	-1	-0.1	0.0	$5,750,000	1	AS
5 Seasons				25	-5	0	-0	0	0	3	0	-2	-0.2	-2	-0.2	0.0	$10,921,500

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Opp	Rslt	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
2007	23	BOS	AL	WS	COL	W	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0
1 WS							1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Rdrs	Rdrs/yr	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	SB	CS	CS%	PO	Awards
2006	BOS	AL	22	P	15			81.1	11	0	11	0	0	1.000	1	2	1.22	0.73	.958	1.56	1.54
2007	BOS	AL	23	P	12			63.0	11	6	4	1	0	.909	-2	-6	1.43	0.83	.955	1.60	1.59
2008	BOS	AL	24	P	33			210.1	42	19	21	2	3	.952	-1	-1	1.71	1.21	.952	1.60	1.59
2009	BOS	AL	25	P	32			203.1	33	7	24	2	1	.939	2	2	1.37	0.97	.953	1.53	1.51
2010	BOS	AL	26	P	32			208.0	43	5	35	3	2	.930	2	2	1.73	1.25	.953	1.63	1.61					AS,CYA-4
2011	BOS	AL	27	P	31	31	0	191.2	29	9	19	1	2	.966	0	0	1.31	0.90	.949	1.60	1.59	14	12	46%	4	AS
	6 Seasons			P	155	31	0	957.2	169	46	114	9	8	.947	2	0	1.50	1.03	.952	1.59	1.57	14	12	46%	4
	6 Seasons			TOT	155	31	0	957.2	169	46	114	9	8	.947	2	2	1.50	1.03	.952	1.59	1.57	14	12	46%	4

Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.

View Complete Notes on Fielding Data

Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.

Pre-1950 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
From 1950 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1950 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1919 on.
Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1950 to 1973 and complete from then on.
Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1919) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1950 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

All-Star Games 2010 * 2011	Awards (yr lg award) 2008 ML Hutch Award	Cy Young (yr lg (rk, shr)) 2010 AL (4, 17%) 0.17 Career Shares (165th)	Wins Above Replacement† s c a p y 2008 AL 5.6 (6th)
WAR for Pitchers† s c a p y 2008 AL 5.6 (4th) 2009 AL 5.6 (4th) 2010 AL 5.0 (5th) 2011 AL 4.8 (10th) Active 22.9 (32nd)	Earned Run Average s c a p y 2008 AL 3.21 (4th) 2009 AL 3.41 (5th) 2010 AL 3.25 (9th)	Wins s c a p y 2008 AL 16 (8th) 2009 AL 15 (10th) 2010 AL 19 (2nd) 2011 AL 15 (10th)	Win-Loss % s c a p y 2008 AL .727 (4th) 2010 AL .679 (9th) 2011 AL .625 (9th) Active .691 (1st) Career .691 (3rd)
Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y 2009 AL 1.230 (10th)	Hits per 9 IP s c a p y 2009 AL 8.233 (7th) 2010 AL 7.226 (4th) 2011 AL 7.795 (10th)	Strikeouts per 9 IP s c a p y 2009 AL 9.959 (2nd) 2010 AL 9.736 (1st) 2011 AL 8.546 (8th)	Innings Pitched s c a p y 2008 AL 210.3 (7th)
Strikeouts s c a p y 2009 AL 225 (3rd) 2010 AL 225 (3rd)	Games Started s c a p y 2008 AL 33 (5th)	Complete Games s c a p y 2008 AL 2 (9th) 2009 AL 2 (9th)	Shutouts s c a p y 2008 AL 2 (1st)
Bases on Balls s c a p y 2010 AL 83 (3rd) 2011 AL 75 (5th)	Strikeouts / Base On Balls s c a p y 2009 AL 3.516 (6th)	Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y 2008 AL 0.599 (3rd) 2009 AL 0.885 (9th) 2010 AL 0.606 (5th)	Hit By Pitch s c a p y 2008 AL 10 (8th) 2010 AL 10 (6th) 2011 AL 11 (7th)
Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y 2008 AL 144 (4th) 2009 AL 138 (4th) 2010 AL 134 (6th)	Adj. Pitching Runs s c a p y 2008 AL 33 (3rd) 2009 AL 29 (6th) 2010 AL 24 (6th) Active 107 (28th) Career 107 (226th)	Adj. Pitching Wins s c a p y 2008 AL 3.4 (3rd) 2009 AL 3.0 (5th) 2010 AL 2.6 (6th) Active 11.1 (27th) Career 11.1 (231st)	Base-Out Runs Saved (RE24)† s c a p y 2008 AL 36.81 (3rd) 2009 AL 32.16 (5th) Active 114.12 (30th) Career 114.12 (138th)
Win Probability Added (WPA)† s c a p y Active 10.3 (43rd) Career 10.3 (182nd)	Sit. Wins Saved (WPA/LI)† s c a p y 2008 AL 2.4 (8th) 2009 AL 3.3 (5th) 2010 AL 3.2 (3rd) Active 10.5 (26th) Career 10.5 (133rd)	Base-Out Wins Saved (REW)† s c a p y 2008 AL 3.7 (3rd) 2009 AL 3.2 (5th) Active 11.5 (30th) Career 11.5 (146th)	Putouts as P s c a p y 2008 AL 19 (5th)

† Statistics like WPA, REW and RE24 are computed from play-by-play data which is only complete from 1974 to the present. From 1950-1973, the data is incomplete, though for most seasons only less than 20 games per season total are missing. Please see our page on data coverage for a full view of the data used to create these leaderboards.

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black Ink	Pitching - 1 (829), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray Ink	Pitching - 60 (419), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor	Pitching - 28 (466), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Pitching - 24 (219), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores

Similar Pitchers

Compare Stats to Similars

Similar Pitchers through 27

Compare Stats to Similars

Most Similar by Ages

Hold mouse over #'s to see names

Zach Britton (985) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Tim Hudson (974) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
David Price (969) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Tim Hudson (973) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Tim Hudson (955) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

Transactions

June 4, 2002: Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 2nd round of the 2002 amateur draft. Player signed August 13, 2002.

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. We attempt to update transactions throughout the season.

Salaries

Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses

Year	Age	Team	Salary	Sources	Notes
2007	23	Boston Red Sox	$384,000
2008	24	Boston Red Sox	$421,500
2009	25	Boston Red Sox	$1,000,000
2010	26	Boston Red Sox	$3,750,000
2011	27	Boston Red Sox	$5,750,000

2012	28	Boston Red Sox	$7,625,000
2013	29	Boston Red Sox	$11,625,000
2014	30	Boston Red Sox	*$13,000,000	$13M Team Option, $250k Buyout	May void option if player is 1st or 2nd in Cy Young for any season, 2009-2013

Career to date (may be incomplete)			$11,305,500	Does not include future salaries

Salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.

Other Resources & Links

Error? Compare Search SABR's Baseball Index Other Links@google.com Baseball-Almanac.com CNN/SI ESPN Retrosheet The Baseball Page WhatIfSports: Jon Lester

Viewed 146,667 times through February 8, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Jonathan john Jon Tyler Lester

Player Page Tricks and Tips

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The play-by-play information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet.

Automatic Player Linking / Statistical Sharing Tool / Basic Player Linking / Data Coverage

See Front Page for time of last update

Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet.

Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball.

Total Zone Rating and Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com.

Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of 24-7 Baseball.

Player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Many thanks to him. We have only selected seasons (players who debuted before 1960) for which we believe the image has reverted into the public domain. We will quickly remove any images for which that can be shown to not be the case.Please let us know if you are aware of any such images on this site.

Play Index Loading Photos from the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.

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