In the first inning of the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers game Thursday night, Jon Lester walked Ryan Braun. Completely normal sort of event, and what is also normal is Braun, as a baserunner, pushing the limits with Lester on the mound.
See, Lester has had an issue throwing over to a base and admittedly has the yips when doing so. Most all baserunners take exceptionally large leads, and a large number of them attempt to steal as they know Lester isn’t going to throw over. Lester does keep runners honest, in a sense, as he changes his delivery, which doesn’t allow for runners to get great jumps off of him. It also helps that both David Ross (now retired) and Willson Contreras have fairly strong throwing arms.
Thursday night Braun tried a completely different approach. Instead of waiting till Lester threw home, he simply walked off (ran) before Lester began his delivery. He was able to do this confidently, knowing Lester wasn’t going to step off and throw the ball to second.
Braun of course tried it again, which resulted in a hilarious bounce pass and was able to get him out.
#FreeOuts pic.twitter.com/FnY9UtpIR4
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 6, 2018
Lester can not rely on the bounce pass to work, and since a play at third means he needs to quickly turn and throw, it’s more likely he throws a ball away a time or two if this trend continues. But what I fear most is, if there was a faster baserunner on-base, that man is standing on third and the next batter has an RBI chance.
I know it worked out for Lester this time, but I am fearful that this trend isn’t something he can continue. I also believe that more baserunners will take advantage of just taking second base, and there will be more that take third. Had Lester walked Lorenzo Cain to lead off the game, it would have been extremely likely that he’s standing on third before Jon threw the first pitch to Domingo Santana.
I have never feared guys running on Lester in the past, but that was because he was always able to limit the damage by pitching through it. If guys are just going run without him getting an opportunity to pitch, that adds a different fold all together.
Not pushing a panic button, just something to really keep an eye on throughout this season.
