When baseball discovered Jon Lester had the ‘yips’

Before the game, first-base coach Rusty Kuntz spoke with the hitters inside the ground-floor batting cages. He revealed a piece of intelligence that was hidden in plain sight and still difficult to fathom: Lester could not throw the baseball to first base. He had not attempted to do so in a game since April 30, 2013. This knowledge would dog Lester throughout his next season after he signed as a free agent with the Cubs. But on that night in September, it was an open secret. Kansas City coaches and executives said they knew, fortified by the work of their advance scouting department. Most of the players said they had no idea, until a few received messages from friends around the sport. Guys were texting our guys that play them a lot, from the West, ‘You have to run. This guy will not throw to first base,’ Kuntz said. I think it was a hushed, not-talked-about subject in baseball, Darling said. But people who knew the game, had heard the whispers: He’s got the yips. He can’t really throw to first.