March 16--After making an errant throw on a pickoff attempt, Jon Lester had a simple request.
The Chicago Cubs' left-hander requested that the base runner return to first base so he could work on improving his pickoff move during a five-inning minor league game.
"This isn't something you can hide and run from it," Lester said Tuesday. "It's out there. Everyone knows. It's something that I continually trying to tackle every day and get better at. That's all I can do and hopefully my teammates can believe I'm putting my work in every day and getting better at and making (catcher) David Ross and my teammates' jobs easier."
The minor league assignment was designed to allow other pitchers to work in the regularly scheduled game against the San Diego Padres at Peoria, but much of Lester's outing was tailored to work on ways to correct his fielding flaws.
Lester committed three errant pickoff throws in the fourth and fifth innings, and he bounced a throw to second for a force play after Ross instructed for him to throw to home plate.
But Lester picked off Dan Vogelbach, and showed some signs of improvement by stepping off the pitching rubber and throwing to first without striding toward the bag.
"It's still a work in progress," Lester said. "It's an everyday thing for me, something I'll continue to work on. There were some negatives today, but that wasn't the idea going in. We didn't talk about trying different things on the mound.
"That was me just improvising and seeing how far I can take it and work on that. Spring training is a time I can't worry about mistakes. I got to work on the things I need to work on. If I do throw a ball down the (right field) line, maybe I went too far with what we're trying to work on. So right now there are a lot of positives."
The fifth inning was devoted to various situations, such as runners at first and squeeze plays.
"Might as well take the opportunity to work on it in a setting like this," said Lester, who faced a mix of left-handed and right-handed minor league hitters.
Opponents stole 44 bases in 55 attempts against Lester last season. The 44 stolen bases were the most allowed by a pitcher, but Lester was realistic about improving.
"This is not a matter of me picking off the Billy Hamiltons," said Lester, referring to Cincinnati's speedster. "It's a matter of keeping the guys that should be close close. and limiting those attempts. The Dee Gordons and Billy Hamiltons are going to get their bags, no matter what you do."
Lester used teammate Anthony Rizzo as an example of a base runner who took advantage of opponents' lapses to steal bases.
"Those are the guys you need to keep an eye on and make sure they're not getting a walking lead," Lester said. "That's the thing we're working on."
Lester hinted that his step off-and-throw move could help him curb opponents' stolen base rate.
"If we try to cut what happened last year in half, I'd probably couldn't be more pleased," Lester said. "That's my goal, to work on it and make my job easier instead of pitching with guys on second and (instead) pitch with guys at first and getting that ground ball double play because our defense is plenty good enough to save a lot of outs for us that way."
Manager Joe Maddon remained optimistic Lester would cure his fielding woes.
"At some point you have that breakthrough moment, and the epiphany occurs and it's a lot easier to do those things," Maddon said. "You don't give up on it. Just like embracing the moment. You attack those particular items."
