Jon Lester

Born: 1/7/1984 in Tacoma, WA, USA

MLB Debut: 2006-06-10 | Final Game: 2021-10-02

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 6'4" | Weight: 249 lbs

Full name: Jonathan Tyler Lester

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Biography

Jon Lester, born in 1984, was a prominent left-handed pitcher who made a significant impact in Major League Baseball from 2006 until his retirement in 2021. Over the course of his career, Lester compiled a record of 200-117, showcasing his effectiveness on the mound with a career ERA of 3.66 and an impressive total of 2,488 strikeouts. Known for his poise and competitiveness, Lester became a reliable ace for several teams, particularly during the playoffs, where he earned the NLCS MVP award for his standout performances. Lester was a five-time All-Star, recognized for his ability to perform under pressure and his durability as a starting pitcher. His career spanned the late 2000s through the 2020s, a period characterized by heightened offensive production in the league. Despite this, Lester maintained a consistent level of excellence that made him a respected figure in baseball. He played an instrumental role in the resurgence of the Chicago Cubs, helping to end the franchise's 108-year championship drought in 2016. With a legacy as one of the era's top pitchers, Lester remains a celebrated figure in baseball history for his contributions both on and off the field.

Career Pitching Statistics

W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
200	117	452	451	15	4	0	2740.0	2610	1114	294	892	2488	3.66	0

Career ERA 3.66 vs. league average 4.19 across their career seasons — 12.6% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
2006	BOS	AL	7	2	15	15	0	0	81.3	91	43	43	60	4.76	4.53 (-5%)	-70.0
2007	BOS	AL	4	0	12	11	0	0	63.0	61	32	31	50	4.57	4.47 (-2%)	-1222.9
2008	BOS	AL	16	6	33	33	2	2	210.3	202	75	66	152	3.21	4.32 (+26%)	3773.3
2009	BOS	AL	15	8	32	32	2	0	203.3	186	77	64	225	3.41	4.32 (+21%)	6199.4
2010	BOS	AL	19	9	32	32	2	0	208.0	167	75	83	225	3.25	4.08 (+20%)	5139.9
2011	BOS	AL	15	9	31	31	0	0	191.7	166	74	75	182	3.47	3.94 (+12%)	565.6
2012	BOS	AL	9	14	33	33	3	0	205.3	216	110	68	166	4.82	4.01 (-20%)	-524.0
2013	BOS	AL	15	8	33	33	1	1	213.3	209	89	67	177	3.75	3.87 (+3%)	1550.9
2014	BOS	AL	10	7	21	21	0	0	143.0	128	40	32	149	2.52	3.74 (+33%)	4117.7
2014	OAK	AL	6	4	11	11	1	1	76.7	66	20	16	71	2.35	3.74 (+37%)	1184.5
2015	CHC	NL	11	12	32	32	1	0	205.0	183	76	47	207	3.34	3.96 (+16%)	-
2016	CHC	NL	19	5	32	32	2	0	202.7	154	55	52	197	2.44	4.19 (+42%)	-
2017	CHC	NL	13	8	32	32	1	0	180.7	179	87	60	180	4.33	4.36 (+1%)	-
2018	CHC	NL	18	6	32	32	0	0	181.7	174	67	64	149	3.32	4.15 (+20%)	-
2019	CHC	NL	13	10	31	31	0	0	171.7	205	85	52	165	4.46	4.51 (+1%)	-
2020	CHC	NL	3	3	12	12	0	0	61.0	64	35	17	42	5.16	4.45 (-16%)	-
2021	WAS	NL	3	5	16	16	0	0	75.3	91	42	29	51	5.02	4.27 (-18%)	-2220.7
2021	STL	NL	4	1	12	12	0	0	66.0	68	32	26	40	4.36	4.27 (-2%)	-

Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
458	366	27	42	10	0	4	31	1	21	162	0.115	0.162	0.175	0.337	-2547.8

Career AVG .115 vs. league average .256 across their career seasons — 55.2% below league average.

Career OBP .162 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 50.0% below league average.

Career SLG .175 vs. league average .412 across their career seasons — 57.6% below league average.

Career OPS 0.337 vs. league average 0.736 across their career seasons — 54.2% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
2006	BOS	AL	15	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2007	BOS	AL	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2008	BOS	AL	33	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2009	BOS	AL	32	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2010	BOS	AL	32	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2011	BOS	AL	31	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2012	BOS	AL	33	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2013	BOS	AL	33	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2014	BOS	AL	21	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2014	OAK	AL	11	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2015	CHC	NL	32	62	6	4	0	0	0	0	3	30	0.065	.254 (-75%)	.316 (-66%)	.404 (-84%)	.721 (-76%)	-787.6
2016	CHC	NL	33	59	3	6	3	0	6	0	6	18	0.102	.255 (-60%)	.321 (-43%)	.417 (-63%)	.738 (-54%)	-553.5
2017	CHC	NL	32	54	5	8	3	1	6	1	4	26	0.148	.254 (-42%)	.324 (-37%)	.425 (-39%)	.750 (-38%)	-381.3
2018	CHC	NL	34	59	4	7	0	1	9	0	0	22	0.119	.247 (-52%)	.318 (-63%)	.409 (-59%)	.727 (-60%)	-605.3
2019	CHC	NL	32	48	6	9	2	1	6	0	5	20	0.188	—	—	—	—	-220.2
2020	CHC	NL	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2021	WAS	NL	18	28	3	5	0	1	3	0	0	13	0.179	—	—	—	—	0.0
2021	STL	NL	12	20	0	3	2	0	0	0	2	11	0.150	—	—	—	—	0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
26	21	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	11	0.048

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	H	BB	SO	AVG
2018	NLWC	CHN	1	1	0	0	1	0.000
2017	NLCS	CHN	1	2	1	0	1	0.500
2017	NLDS2	CHN	2	2	0	0	1	0.000
2016	NLCS	CHN	2	3	0	2	0	0.000
2016	NLDS1	CHN	1	2	0	0	2	0.000
2016	WS	CHN	3	2	0	0	2	0.000
2015	NLCS	CHN	1	2	0	0	2	0.000
2015	NLDS1	CHN	1	2	0	0	0	0.000
2014	ALWC	OAK	1	0	0	0	0	.000
2013	ALCS	BOS	2	0	0	0	0	.000
2013	ALDS1	BOS	1	0	0	0	0	.000
2013	WS	BOS	2	3	0	0	1	0.000
2009	ALDS2	BOS	1	0	0	0	0	.000
2008	ALCS	BOS	2	0	0	0	0	.000
2008	ALDS1	BOS	2	0	0	0	0	.000
2007	ALCS	BOS	2	0	0	0	0	.000
2007	WS	BOS	1	2	0	0	1	0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
9	7	26	22	0	154.0	117	43	40	133	2.51

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2018	NLWC	CHN	0	0	1	1	6.0	4	1	1	9	1.50
2017	NLCS	CHN	0	0	1	1	4.7	3	1	5	2	1.93
2017	NLDS2	CHN	0	0	2	1	9.7	3	2	3	5	1.86
2016	NLCS	CHN	1	0	2	2	13.0	9	2	2	9	1.38
2016	NLDS1	CHN	1	0	1	1	8.0	5	0	0	5	0.00
2016	WS	CHN	1	1	3	2	14.7	13	6	4	16	3.68
2015	NLCS	CHN	0	1	1	1	6.7	8	4	1	5	5.40
2015	NLDS1	CHN	0	1	1	1	7.3	5	3	1	9	3.68
2014	ALWC	OAK	0	0	1	1	7.3	8	6	2	5	7.36
2013	ALCS	BOS	1	1	2	2	11.7	13	3	4	7	2.31
2013	ALDS1	BOS	1	0	1	1	7.7	3	2	3	7	2.35
2013	WS	BOS	2	0	2	2	15.3	9	1	1	15	0.59
2009	ALDS2	BOS	0	1	1	1	6.0	4	3	4	5	4.50
2008	ALCS	BOS	0	2	2	2	12.7	14	7	2	15	4.97
2008	ALDS1	BOS	1	0	2	2	14.0	10	0	3	11	0.00
2007	ALCS	BOS	0	0	2	0	3.7	3	2	1	5	4.91
2007	WS	BOS	1	0	1	1	5.7	3	0	3	3	0.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	452	451	147	266	20	18

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
2006	BOS	P	15	15	0	11	0	0
2007	BOS	P	12	11	6	4	1	0
2008	BOS	P	33	33	19	21	2	3
2009	BOS	P	32	32	7	24	2	1
2010	BOS	P	32	32	5	35	3	2
2011	BOS	P	31	31	9	19	1	2
2012	BOS	P	33	33	14	21	2	3
2013	BOS	P	33	33	12	18	2	1
2014	BOS	P	21	21	4	12	2	1
2014	OAK	P	11	11	4	4	0	0
2015	CHN	P	32	32	10	17	3	1
2016	CHN	P	32	32	18	17	0	1
2017	CHN	P	32	32	14	23	0	1
2018	CHN	P	32	32	9	14	0	0
2019	CHN	P	31	31	5	5	1	1
2020	CHN	P	12	12	2	4	1	0
2021	WAS	P	16	16	5	10	0	1
2021	SLN	P	12	12	4	7	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position	Games
Pitcher	452

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
2018	Pitcher of the Month	June
2016	Babe Ruth Award
2016	NLCS MVP	Co-MVP
2016	Pitcher of the Month	June
2016	Pitcher of the Month	September
2016	Player of the Week	Week of 2016-06-11
2014	Player of the Week	Week of 2014-09-14
2010	Pitcher of the Month	May
2008	Hutch Award
2008	Pitcher of the Month	July
2008	Pitcher of the Month	September
2008	Player of the Week	Week of 2008-05-24
2008	This Year in Baseball Performance of the Year	MLB.com GIBBY

Salary History

Year	Team	League	Salary
2016	CHN	NL	$25,000,000
2015	CHN	NL	$20,000,000
2014	BOS	AL	$13,000,000
2013	BOS	AL	$11,625,000
2012	BOS	AL	$7,625,000
2011	BOS	AL	$5,750,000
2010	BOS	AL	$3,750,000
2009	BOS	AL	$1,000,000
2008	BOS	AL	$421,500
2007	BOS	AL	$384,000
Total Career Earnings			$88,555,500