Jon Lester Changes Up His Pitching Arsenal

As he came up through the Red Sox farm system, Jon Lester's repertoire of mid-90s heat, a plus curve and great cutter was considered top-of-the-rotation stuff on its own. Now, he has developed an above-average change-up, Ian Browne reported Sunday.

He has worked on the change-up all spring more than he has in his whole career, and has developed it to the point where he will throw it multiple times per start.  It will again be utilized in his final spring start against the Mets Friday night, before he gears up for his April 8 regular-season debut against the Rays.

Lester said he threw the pitch at least 10 times against the Phillies Sunday, in which he faced 24 batters in 5 innings and allowed one earned run.  He felt comfortable using it against one of the best lineups in baseball, which is a good sign we will be seeing it regularly during the season.

Adding a fourth pitch has several obvious advantages for Lester, it gives hitters something extra to think about, keeps them honest when they sit on a fastball, and allows him to surprise hitters more when he throws the cutter or curve.  It allows him to use the whole strike zone even more than he did during his breakout 2008 season.

When asked by Browne about Lester's development of the pitch, Jason Varitek stressed Lester is still just 25 and developing into the best pitcher he can be.

"Everybody needs to take a step back on him," Varitek said. "I love him, but he is still developing. I know that, the staff knows that. He's going to have bumps, he's going to have some good times and some not so good times. He'll continue to grow."

If 16-5 with a 3.21 ERA still isn't the best Lester can be, then Red Sox fans should be extremely excited about this ace-in-the-making.