Brett Lawrie’s The Biggest Tease

Sep 7, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie (13) rounds second base after a home run in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY SportsWhen Brett Lawrie isn’t injured or struggling to hit his weight he’s starting to look like he’s going to be in the conversation about the best young hitter in baseball just as the season’s coming to a close.

In his 3 years as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays that is literally all the 3 things he has done.

In May of 2011 Lawrie was supposed to get a call up to make his big league debut. He got hit by a pitch on his hand and put on the disabled list. He didn’t come to the big leagues until August.

Lawrie’s performance in those 2 months is the reason people still had patience for him this season!

In 43 games he posted a .293/.373/.580 slash line and put up a 2.5 WAR.

Ridiculous!

He also finished that season on the DL.

I still remember Blue Jays fans being upset that Lawrie played to many games in 2011 to qualify for Rookie of the Year in 2012. Some fans, myself included wanted Lawrie hitting 4th behind Bautista on Opening day 2012! But that may also speak to how weak the lineup was and Encarnacion still sort of being a nobody.

Some top prospects list had Lawrie ahead of Mike Trout for 2012. If you don’t know who Mike Trout is he’s worth looking up. If you ever needed proof you don’t need to take prospect rankings that seriously.

Lawrie dealt with injuries again last season and played in 125 games. In that time he had a .273/.324/.405 slash line while posting a 2.5 WAR. A slight drop off from 2011 but he was still very much holding his own considering it was the first time the league was adjusting to him and he had to adjust back. Even in the last week of 2012 he had a couple of home runs and doubles.

Then Lawrie started this season injured. He came back but didn’t have it right away. Before the All-Star break, Lawrie struck out 37 times in just 147 at-bats.

But since the beginning of August, man oh man. He has struck out just 17 times in 163 at-bats. He had 37 hits in August which was tied for 5th in the American League. And since the All-Star Break he has a .301 average with an .827 OPS.

It’s great to see but man he literally does this every season!

All we can do now is just keep hoping Lawrie can spend a whole season healthy and productive.

4th time’s a charm right?

PS. I was about to publish this post and then I remembered I didn’t even talk about his defense!

Its something you have to just watch, can’t really talk about it. (I didn’t choose the music).