Scout that signed Jon Lester now drafts players for Orioles

At some point today or real soon, pitcher Jon Lester will sign a massive free agent contract - one worth perhaps $150 million or more. That news will get a lot of attention. Somewhere else another man will be smiling and happy for Lester. That is the area scout that drafted him out of a Tacoma, Wash., high school at age 18. Lester was a second-round pick, No. 57 overall in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft. That scout is Gary Rajsich, who has been the Orioles director of scouting since November 2011. From 1994-2006 he was a Red Sox scout. Looking back at that 2002 draft, how did Rajsich see Lester before he drafted him? "I did turn him in as a front-of-the-rotation starter," Rajsich said. "I used my imagination and dreamed big, but it wasn't that hard because he was what they look like. He was tall and strong and had a great delivery and an easy arm. It was just a matter of maturity. He was an athlete. If you can't dream on that, that he could pick up some mechanics and learn how to repeat (his delivery) well. "When I met him, that was the clincher from me. That is what separated him from everyone else. His makeup is great. The character that he showed. He beat lymphoma. He is just a great kid with great character and makeup. "When David Chad, our scouting director at the time called his name - and I was worried he wouldn't get to us because our first pick was at 57 - I was elated." Rajsich drafted a kid with a lot of talent and a fastball that could miss bats even back then. He was not throwing a cutter as an amateur. That came later. But it was the character of Lester that helped make him special. "Just his poise and his quiet confidence. The way he played the game," Rajsich said. "When I met him and looked into his eye, you just could tell he had the fire that he was going to be the best he could be. It was very convincing." I asked Rajsich how 56 players were drafted ahead of Lester. Rajsich said early in Lester's senior year, the left-hander had not pitched that well. Coming off the fall where he played soccer, he wasn't in top baseball shape yet and his velocity was off a bit. Some high-level scouts on other teams lost some interest in Lester at that point, but Rajsich kept going to watch him pitch. "It wasn't really until his last start his senior year, that he showed flashes of what he did the summer before. And that is when David Chad was there, fortunately for me," Rajsich said. Lester was signed in 2002 for $1 million. Soon, he will have a lot more money than that. And the scout that watched him in high school and drafted him will smile. "I'm extremely happy for him, knowing what kind of a kid he is," Rajsich said. "Not only happy for him, but very proud of him." O's draft note: Since the season ended, the Orioles have moved up three spots with their first-round pick. Teams signed players that got qualifying offers, such as Toronto signing Russell Martin and the Mets getting Michael Cuddyer, and those clubs lost their top picks. So the O's have gone from overall pick No. 29 to No. 26 and they could go even higher. Baltimore's next pick is currently No. 33. That is the pick the Orioles got when they lost Nelson Cruz. The Orioles have overall pick No. 67 in the second round and pick No. 73 which is a competitive balance pick that comes after round two. So, after not drafting a single player last year until round three and pick No. 90, the Orioles currently have four of the first 73 picks in next June's draft.