Diamondbacks Jordan Lawlar Opens Up

Arizona Diamondbacks top prospect Jordan Lawlar stood in the box against Milwaukee Brewers starter Tyler Anderson with a strong, athletic, wide stance, ready to pounce on a mistake. He got a 1-1 sinker on the inner half of the plate and turned with a sudden powerful swing, blasting the ball over the wall in left field, deep up onto the lawn at Salt River Fields.

That two-run shot (Gabriel Moreno was on first base) kick started a six-run inning for the D-backs that was capped off by a grand slam from Corbin Carroll. They went on to win the game 7-1. While the results of any spring contest are not that important, seeing this type of performance from Lawlar most certainly is. His response to it was understated as is his custom. He put his head down and ran around the bases quickly.

"I hit it and I knew it was gone.And then I just said, all right, let's go. Let's start running" Lawlar said.

Still just entering his age 22 baseball season, it's easy to forget how young he is. Lawlar always seems to have a calm, controlled outward demeanor. Asked where he gets that from he pointed to his boyhood idol Derek Jeter.

"I grew up watching Derek Jeter a lot. So probably just watching him and how he did things. And then I grew up trying to idolize him and do what he did."

Drafted in 2021, to some it may feel like he's been around forever. Unfortunately a litany of injuries have limited him to just 282 professional games, minors, majors, and foreign leagues combined. That included 14 games during the 2023 season at the tender age of 20. While his defense was clearly major league ready, his bat was not at that point.

Lawlar has performed well in the minors whenever he's been able to get on the field in his career. He has a .294 career minor league batting average, with an .893 OPS. That includes 98 extra base hits with 38 homers in 896 at bats.

A late spring thumb injury and then later hamstring injuries limited him to just 23 minor league games 2024. But he didn't let that get him down. In fact, as he always does, he turned it into a positive somehow.

"It's a blessing. I learned a lot from it." Lawlar said. "Perseverance, and I know my body even more now. I spent a lot of time on the table. Obviously I want to be out there with the guys and with the fellows. But a lot of good can come out of something like that sometimes."

Not one to feel sorry for himself, Lawlar expounded upon the mental aspect of overcoming injury and whether he got down over getting injured once again.

"Maybe initially for anybody. And then you turn the corner and you get better at what you can get better at. Going to Chase [Field], watching the game, trying to be as close as I could. I mean, you can sit in the corner and cry or you can do something about it."

Lawlar clearly needed more reps, however, following such a truncated season. After some discussion with the team, it was mutually decided that playing for Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter League would be the best route. That was the place that would offer the best competition. The variety of pitching faced is what stood out to the young shortstop the most.

"It's interesting because you get all kinds of pitchers down there." Lawlar said. "You have the guy throwing 87 with cutters and lefty specialist, cutter, change by getting everybody out that way, and then you have the flamethrower. So I love the variety I got down there, got the opportunity to face."

Lawlar started out very hot his first dozen games or so in winter ball, but then cooled off, eventually ending up with a .237 batting average and a .670 OPS. Those are more or less league average numbers in that pitcher's league where the league average was just .244 with a .677 OPS.

The learning curve for young hitters trying to get established in the major leagues is a well worn path, and Lawlar came away from his winter league experience with more understanding of what he needs to do.

"I expanded the zone a little bit. I started off super hot, so they started to pitch more around the zone. And you gotta make the adjustment and don't swing at their pitches. When you start to expand a little bit, as most guys would say, you give those pitchers strikes, they start getting a better pitcher's count, making it tougher to hit"

Always one to capitalize on every opportunity to learn, Lawlar soaked up the language and culture opportunity too. He had already begun to learn Spanish several years ago and has become proficient in the language.

"So I've been learning for probably two years now. When I was in low A, it got to a point where there was probably two or three English speakers on the team. So I was like, I've got to figure something out. And I started learning in podcasts, music, a lot of music. Bad Bunny dropped an album at the time. A lot of Bad Bunny."

This most recent stint in the Dominican Republic helped accelerate his language ability to the point where he is quite comfortable and conversant in the language. That's a good thing too as the number of Spanish speaking players in the organization and in the current major league clubhouse has increased a great deal.

Told what other people have been saying about how good his Spanish is now, Lawlar's eyes lit up and he broke into a huge smile. "I love that, I love that." he said. "I mean, any time you're around the culture and you're immersed in it, that's the best way to learn a language."

The overall experience of playing in the baseball crazy Dominican Republic is one he cherished.

"They absolutely eat, breathe, sleep baseball down there. My best comparison would be NFL, how we treat Sunday's NFL games. That's how they treat baseball down there, pack up the stadiums."

"The food there, the energy they have, and just the love for people in general, too, down there. "It's a very loving country and gives you great perspective once you come back to the US, we're very grateful."

There may be some uncertainty of exactly the path that Lawlar's career will take going forward. For right now the team is intent on keeping him healthy and playing as many games as possible. Mike Hazen has said repeatedly that he needs to play every day. That can't happen in a utility role in the major leagues.

The team just committed to a four year, $45 million extension to starting shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. Torey Lovullo revealed in his post game press conference on Wednesday that Lawlar is going to be focused on third base and shortstop for right now.

While his season is likely to start in Reno, Lawlar will be in the major leagues as soon as he's ready. That time appears to be coming soon however. In the meantime, the young prospect will continue learning and soaking up experience wherever he can get. He finished the interview with these thoughts.

"I feel great. I feel like I'm in a great position to have a great year. I'm healthy, I put a lot of work in this off season, and I really embraced the experience in the DR. So I feel ready to do what I need to do to help this team win, whenever my number is called."