PEORIA, Ariz. – Welcome to Year 2 of Jon Lester and the Cubs.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” catcher David Ross, smiling big, told Lester as soon as he saw him in the Cubs’ clubhouse Thursday morning. “My heart’s beating a million times faster.”
A year after an unexpected dead-arm period during spring training (when he admittedly tried to push it in his first spring with a new club), Lester’s arm appears to be alive again as he makes his first scheduled start of his second spring with the team Thursday when the Cubs face the Seattle Mariners at Peoria Stadium.
Other than personal catcher Ross, the Cubs’ batting order is filled with kids.
The lineup (vs. LHP Wade Miley):
CF Javy Baez
LF Kyle Schwarber
3B Kris Bryant
RF Jorge Soler
C David Ross
DH Jeimer Candelario
1B Taylor Davis
2B Arismendy Alcantara
SS Kristopher Negron
(P Jon Lester)