D-backs Face Tough Decision on Jordan Lawlar's Playing Time

Even going beyond some of his holes at Triple-A, his promotion marked the second time that the team promoted Lawlar to the major leagues without much of a plan for consistent playing time after parting ways with an underperforming veteran infielder. They made the same mistake in 2023 when they let Nick Ahmed go in the final month of that season, despite being in the thick of a Wild Card race they ultimately won.

That in itself presents a bigger problem than trying to fix his approach at the plate to make him less vulnerable to such pitches. Without a clear plan in place, the team faces the possibility of Lawlar stalling out, which would hurt the team's long-term infield outlook.

The debate over whether it was the right time to bring him up is rather moot, as the more important question now is what to do with him. Since he's playing behind five veteran hitters who all merit consistent playing time, Lawlar has become a backup infielder with one to two starts a series. That was the situation they wanted to avoid in March, but now they find themselves right back in it.

The Diamondbacks could option Lawlar back to Reno to get him more consistent reps, but finding a suitable replacement becomes problematic. Arizona has Blaze Alexander on their 40-man roster, and he can cover the same positions but isn't as strong a defender. Alexander's struggles at shortstop cost the Diamondbacks dearly last season, as he committed a key error that led to a loss against the Braves and kept them out of the postseason.

Due to the lack of viable shortstop options in the organization, the best situation for the Diamondbacks is to keep Lawlar up and hope he improves with more reps. He gives them defensive stability at second base, shortstop, and third base, even with his early struggles at the plate. So the likely path moving forward is to get him a start or two every series and hope he turns it around offensively to earn more playing time.

If Lawlar can't turn things around quickly, the best decision for him will be to send him back down to Reno and acquire a veteran infielder help via trade. In that scenario, it would be a second consecutive lost season of development, this time due to the organization's rush to promote him. The organization views Lawlar as a "once in a five years" type player, so they can't afford to miss on him due to poor decisions.