One of the best pitchers in baseball is trying an absurd method to get around his bizarre weakness
- Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester can't throw the ball to first base due to a strange case of the yips.
- On Sunday, Lester showed a new method he's working on - bouncing the ball to first like a bounce pass in basketball.
- The first attempt did not go well.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester has struggled for years with throwing the ball to first base in one of the strangest cases of the yips the sports world has ever seen.
Lester has tried to manage the problem before, famously throwing the ball in his glove to first base to record an out.
Now, in spring training, Lester is trying a new method - bouncing the ball to first base. It didn't go so well on Sunday.
During an exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Lester knocked a grounder up the middle down and fielded it. Instead of making a routine throw to first or even under-handing it, Lester chucked the ball at the ground like a bounce pass in basketball in an attempt to get it to first base. The bounce pass went under the first baseman Efren Navarro's glove and got away, allowing the Diamondbacks to take second base on the error.
After the game, Lester bemoaned throwing it to Navarro, who is a minor leaguer and was not expecting the unusual delivery.
"I feel bad for the guy today," Lester said. "He had no idea what's going on. He's never been a part of it. With [Anthony Rizzo] probably the surprise wouldn't have been there."
While Lester said that the new method is meant to ease the defensive burden on third baseman Kris Bryant and catcher Wilson Contreras, it's worth wondering if Lester's new methods will work. On Sunday, even if the bounce pass was fielded cleanly, it was several beats behind the runner.
"I don't really care what it looks like. I don't care if it bounces 72 times over there," Lester said. "An out's an out."
Spring training is for working out new skills, so perhaps Lester will master this new technique. If not, the Cubs will still be left with a great pitcher with a career 3.51 ERA who strangely cannot make one of the most basic plays in the game.
"Obviously, from the outside looking in, it's kind of like, 'Why can't you do that?'" Lester said of critics. "Like I've said many times before, if I knew why, the things wouldn't be an issue."