2013 Toronto Blue Jays Reviews: Brett Lawrie

Sep 26, 2013; Baltimore, MD, USA; Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie (13) hits a one-run rbi double in in the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Orioles defeated the Blue Jays 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

2013 Expectations

Brett Lawrie was and still is the future of the Toronto Blue Jays. Going into 2013, he was projected to take the next step at the plate while continuing his dominating defense at third base. The Blue Jays had projected to have Brett Lawrie at 3B and Jose Reyes at SS. This set up should have been the strength of the defense as Jose Reyes has won the Gold Glove and Brett has shown Gold Glove potential.

Offensively the hope was that Brett could stay healthy and increase his production at the plate. A realistic expectation was for Brett to become a 20HR/20SB guy while keeping a batting average around the .280 mark.

2013 Reality

Defensively:
While Brett Lawrie and Jose Reyes should have been the strength of the Blue Jays defense, both players struggled to stay healthy. Brett dealt with injuries coming into the season and also had a severe ankle sprain mid-season. Both injuries resulted in him only playing 107 Games. While healthy he spent shared time at both 3B(101 Games) and 2B(6 Games). This versatile will be an asset for Brett and the Blue jays organization in the future.

Offensively
As mentioned Brett got off to a late start this season and didn’t spend much time in the minors to get his timing right at the plate. As a result of him being rushed to the team after missing the first two weeks of the season he only managed to bat a .209 through the end of May.

After missing all of June with a severe ankle sprain Brett once again struggled at the plate as he finished July with the same Average of .209. Brett turned a corner and was able to stay healthy and play consistently. This developed into him getting hot at the plate. August and September were great months as he was able finish the season with a respectable .254 Batting average with 11 home runs but only 46 RBIs. What makes batting .254 great? Well if you are batting .209 at the end of July, making it to .254 means you had a great home stretch.

Year     G  PA  AB  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI SB SO   BA  OBP

2012   125 536 494 73 135 26  3 11  48 13 86 .273 .324

2013   107 442 401 41 102 18  3 11  46  9 68 .254 .315

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/30/2013.

Once again these number make us fans want to project the what ifs? What if Brett Played all 162? Would he have been that 20/20 player so many of us wanted?

2014 Outlook

Brett Lawrie is still viewed as the future of this organization and he needs to continue developing his game this off-season. The number one thing the organization and fans want is for him to play all 162 games to see what kind of numbers he can put up. The biggest problem here is that you can’t train toward avoiding injury. Brett plays the game all out and that is what makes the GTA love him. Hopefully he starts next seasons the way he finished 2013. If he does, we will no doubt see a plus .280 hitter with 20HR and 20 SB.

Note: I have not discussed RBI projections because where he bats in the order will significantly affect this number. I think he is best fit batting 5th but this decision is made by people who make more money then I do.

Note: All numbers and stats are from BaseballReference.com