Jon Lester has had a rough August. In five starts this month he’s gone 1-3 and racked up the following line: 24u2153 IP, 37 H, 25 R, 23 ER, 12 BB, 24 K. I’ve spent the better part of this week trying to figure out what’s behind this sustained downward stretch. I took a look at a variety of elements, including velocity, pitch selection and catchers to try and figure out if this was just a random downward turn he’d come out of or if something is structurally wrong.
Since August 1 opposing batters are absolutely crushing the ball against Lester.