Lester a Better Hitter Than Some Studs, Bryant and Trout, AAA Arms, and Other Bullets

I have introduced The Little Boy to ‘Rookie of the Year,’ and he is quoting it back as it happens because he’s enjoying it so much. I am in heaven.

  • Jose Quintana makes his second half debut as the Cubs go for the sweep today. Because of the break and how the Cubs decided to come out of the break, Quintana hasn’t started in 10 days. Hopefully the long period of rest will do him well, and he’ll continue what he was doing in his two starts after the implosion against the Mets.
  • As for yesterday’s starter, Jon Lester, not only did the big lefty pitch well, he also ripped a homer and a deep single. He pushed his season line to .250/.357/.417, with a 106 wRC+. Yup, Lester – the guy with the famously long hitless streak to begin his career – is 6% better than league average at the plate this year. It really shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, as we’ve known for years that Lester actually had a beautiful swing, and produces some of the best exit velocity among all pitchers at the plate. He was due for some great results.
  • I was gonna do a whole post about the guys Lester is outhitting this year, but the gents at Cubs Insider beat me to the punch, so check out the humor list there. Among the notable names? Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, JT Realmuto, Yasiel Puig, Marwin Gonzalez, Matt Carpenter, and Lorenzo Cain. Jon Lester rakes.
  • https://twitter.com/darenw/status/1150130081215520768

    (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

  • Carl Edwards Jr. continues his rehab at Iowa without issue:
  • And Rowan Wick (in addition to James Norwood) continues to obliterate AAA:
  • Get ready for a tough series against the Reds, because the Cubs are drawing the most challenging slate of Reds starters:
  • Obviously the Mike Trout part of this chart is the craziest thing, but it’s also notable – hard to see – that Kris Bryant projects to finish with the third most WAR in the NL, behind only Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich (but still would be barely more than half of Trout’s total):
  • Speaking of Trout, the guy is on some kind of tear, even for Trout:
  • Speaking of being on great runs, apparently the Nationals are on the best 41-game stretch in their franchise history:
  • What’s most amazing about that is that they are still 6.0 games back of the Braves thanks to how crazy hot the Braves have been, and how deep the hole was that the Nats were in.
  • Big clearance day at Fanatics, including the new All-Star gear:
  • Awkward (and scary on the concussion part of this):
  • https://twitter.com/mike_petriello/status/1150156886366400512

  • There it is, the first steal of first base:
  • You need this in your life:
  • Fun is fun:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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