FORT MYERS, Fla. -- When Jon Lester was emerging as a Red Sox prospect, one of his minor league coaches, Al Nipper, offered an interesting compare-and-contrast exercise. Nipper took video of his former Red Sox teammate, Roger Clemens, flipped it to create a "left-handed" Clemens, and then had a split-screen, side-by-side look at the deliveries of Lester and Clemens.

Now, Lester is back in the split screen. But this time, he is the model for a prospect.

Left-hander Drake Britton was added to the Red Sox 40-man roster this past winter. Though he went 1-13 with a 6.91 ERA in High-A Salem while struggling with his command and, by his own admission, the mental side of the game last year, Britton has stuff that ranks among the best in the Sox organization.

He possesses well above-average stuff: a fastball that touched as high as 96 mph last year, a slider he developed last year that immediately showed promise as a wipeout offering, a 12-to-6 curve that came back after he started throwing the slider and a developing changeup. That combination convinced the Sox that he needed to be added to the big league roster rather than exposed to the Rule 5 draft.

"I wasn’t expecting it," Britton said of his addition to the 40-man roster. "Obviously, I was thinking about it. It hit me out of nowhere. I was like, ‘This is real. They still believe in me.’ That’s what kind of gave me the drive this offseason to work even harder, and to be like, ‘You guys made the right choice. That wasn’t me last year. I’m coming in prepared and ready to go.’"

Britton will be among the first Red Sox spring cuts; with a strong spring, he would open the year in the Double-A Portland rotation. But the 22-year-old has been trying to make the most of his time in big league camp, picking up any information that he can apply to his own career. And so, he has zeroed in on Lester, the left-hander to whom he has been, at times, compared, as someone from whom he can learn.

The comparisons between Britton and Lester began in 2010, when Britton had his first full pro season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2008. Britton was dominant in the South Atlantic League, forging a 2.97 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 23 walks in 75 2/3 innings for Greenville.

"That’s when it started to get out there that we were similar in a way," said Britton. "I’m not going to complain if people want to compare me to Jon Lester."

Britton has been taking the fly-on-the-wall approach to spring training that typically characterizes minor leaguers in their first big league camp. He said that he would love to speak to Lester, though as of earlier this week, he had yet to have a conversation with him this spring.

"I want to talk to [pitching coach Bob McClure] to see if there’s any way that me and him can’t get together, if he wouldn’t mind taking the time to sit down and talk baseball," said Britton. "We’re all trying to get ready for a season. If it happens where we can sit down and he doesn’t mind talking to me, that would be great. If not, I have no problem sitting back and watching him throw, because I can learn just as much sitting back and watching him.

"Either way, it’s just nice to be around him, to witness the things that he does and the things that I would like to do, too. It’s just been awesome to be around him, watching him throw."

The Sox have encouraged the younger left-hander to embrace his similarities to the veteran. Team officials asked Britton to watch some of Lester's game outings this spring. But Lester has been used as a more direct learning tool as well.

Just as was the case with Lester and the left-handed Clemens, the Sox have had Britton compare his delivery to that of Lester.

"At one point they put video of me and him, going through delivery of me and him going through our delivery in our windup, just to see how similar it is. In a lot of ways, there are some similar things we can do," said Britton. "The thing I saw in the video, when we get to our landing foot, everything looks the same, with our arm out, our front side up. He kind of stands a little staggered like I do.

"The only thing that I’m trying to work on, that he does perfectly every time, is lifting [the right] leg up and leading with his butt towards home. That gives him direction. I have a problem sometimes with opening up too soon."

If Britton can fix the issues that created his command issues, the Sox believe he still has a bright future. There aren't many left-handers with his frame (he is 6-foot-2 with a powerful build that suggests the ability to shoulder a starter's workload) and stuff.

"He’s got the big, strong body, the left-handed arm and the velocity," said Kevin Walker, Britton's pitching coach last year in Salem. "The stuff is there. For me, when the stuff is there, clicking and consistent, he’s really close."

This spring has been a reminder for Britton that he faces a fresh start. The opportunity to be in big league camp pushed a reset button on a disappointing 2011, with the proximity to the pitcher to whom he is sometimes compared serving as an important reminder of the promise that could lie ahead. 

"Being compared to me, I take that on as a great honor. There’s no better guy to be compared to than that," said Britton. "I love being compared to him. That’s a privilege. I take it on as the greatest compliment ever."