Listening to Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulos explain it, the Jays seem to have been seeking perfection from Brett Lawrie before bringing him up. But from the outside looking in, the time has been right for a while now for the 21-year-old rookie third baseman to make his major-league debut. The Jays delayed the inevitable as long as they could and even though it likely won’t happen until the weekend in Baltimore, the native of Langley, B.C., acquired for Shaun Marcum from the Brewers last December, will join the Jays on the upcoming road trip against a couple of relatively friendly pitching staffs, the O’s and the Royals. He would make his Rogers Centre debut June 10 versus the Red Sox.
Most discussions with Anthopoulos make a lot of sense, bordering on sublime. The rambling explanation he gave Tuesday to media in the dugout before his team’s 6-3 loss to the Indians, explaining why his highly touted prospect continued to stay in Vegas even though he had accomplished everything he’d been asked, seemed as outrageous as hitting on 17 when the dealer shows five. Bring him up. He’s ready for the Jays and the Jays are ready for him.
“Mike Mordecai was just in (Vegas) this week,” Anthopoulos said of the team’s roving infield instructor. “I just talked to him and he said he’s making great strides. He said, ‘Alex, when you get a chance to see this guy you’re going to see there’s a big change.’ He’s talking defensively.
“But we’re throwing so many things at Brett. We’re talking about him having an approach at the plate, being more selective. I mean this is a Canadian high school kid with two full seasons of minor league baseball. Twenty-one years old in that (Triple-A) league, learning a position, talking about approach, all the little things. Mordecai says the strides he’s made defensively have been amazing, just with the little things, the subtleties of the position. Brett’s been a priority for us for obvious reasons to try and accelerate that development at third. He’s really come a long way.”
The Jays entered Tuesday in a division where five games separates the top from the bottom and while the AL East remained quality, a combined 13 games above .500, there is not one dominating team among the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays. It’s wide open for the first time in years and the Jays sit back while Lawrie is on fire at their Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate.
As Vegas began a four-game home series against Tucson on Tuesday, Lawrie led the Pacific Coast League in hits (79), extra-base hits (38), total bases (151) and doubles (19). He led the ‘51s in triples (4), home runs (15), RBIs (49), runs (51) and stolen bases (11). Yes, I know it’s the PCL where the ball flies in the light air and offensive number should be taken with a grain of sand. Still...
Meanwhile, the Jays’ crisis at the hot corner may have cost them a number of games, although how many is hard to quantify. It’s been bad. Heading into Tuesday night, the Jays’ five third basemen Jayson Nix, John McDonald, Edwin Encarnacion, Mike McCoy and Chris Woodward had combined to hit .179 with a .525 OPS, four homers and 19 RBIs in 54 games. Not good.
“We’re getting to the point that (Lawrie’s) doing everything that we asked,” Anthopoulos said. “We needed him to play well. He did play well. My thought process was after the first month, the numbers looked good but it wasn’t where he needed to be. Let’s talk to him about making some adjustments. Let’s see if he can do it one way for a month and another way for a month. We’re at the end of the month and at some point we’re going to have to find out about him one way or the other.”
The issue for Anthopoulos was that after Lawrie’s first month, the proud graduate of Greg Hamilton’s Baseball Canada program had an alarming ratio of four walks and 27 strikeouts. He was asked by Anthopoulos to improve those numbers by not chasing pitches out of the strike zone. He did just that. In the second month, Lawrie had 14 walks and 13 strikeouts. Bring him up.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday’s loss, the dynamic right-hander Brandon Morrow (2-3) struggled with his command, but struck out nine in his five innings of work. He was roughed up for nine hits, including three by catcher Carlos Santana and two each by Michael Brantley and Grady Sizemore.
The Jays managed 10 hits against starter Mitch Talbot (2-1) and the Indians’ bullpen. Shortstop Yunel Escobar homered and reached base five times, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, tying his career high. Jose Bautista collected three singles.
Most discussions with Anthopoulos make a lot of sense, bordering on sublime. The rambling explanation he gave Tuesday to media in the dugout before his team’s 6-3 loss to the Indians, explaining why his highly touted prospect continued to stay in Vegas even though he had accomplished everything he’d been asked, seemed as outrageous as hitting on 17 when the dealer shows five. Bring him up. He’s ready for the Jays and the Jays are ready for him.
“Mike Mordecai was just in (Vegas) this week,” Anthopoulos said of the team’s roving infield instructor. “I just talked to him and he said he’s making great strides. He said, ‘Alex, when you get a chance to see this guy you’re going to see there’s a big change.’ He’s talking defensively.
“But we’re throwing so many things at Brett. We’re talking about him having an approach at the plate, being more selective. I mean this is a Canadian high school kid with two full seasons of minor league baseball. Twenty-one years old in that (Triple-A) league, learning a position, talking about approach, all the little things. Mordecai says the strides he’s made defensively have been amazing, just with the little things, the subtleties of the position. Brett’s been a priority for us for obvious reasons to try and accelerate that development at third. He’s really come a long way.”
The Jays entered Tuesday in a division where five games separates the top from the bottom and while the AL East remained quality, a combined 13 games above .500, there is not one dominating team among the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays. It’s wide open for the first time in years and the Jays sit back while Lawrie is on fire at their Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate.
As Vegas began a four-game home series against Tucson on Tuesday, Lawrie led the Pacific Coast League in hits (79), extra-base hits (38), total bases (151) and doubles (19). He led the ‘51s in triples (4), home runs (15), RBIs (49), runs (51) and stolen bases (11). Yes, I know it’s the PCL where the ball flies in the light air and offensive number should be taken with a grain of sand. Still...
“We’re getting to the point that (Lawrie’s) doing everything that we asked,” Anthopoulos said. “We needed him to play well. He did play well. My thought process was after the first month, the numbers looked good but it wasn’t where he needed to be. Let’s talk to him about making some adjustments. Let’s see if he can do it one way for a month and another way for a month. We’re at the end of the month and at some point we’re going to have to find out about him one way or the other.”
The issue for Anthopoulos was that after Lawrie’s first month, the proud graduate of Greg Hamilton’s Baseball Canada program had an alarming ratio of four walks and 27 strikeouts. He was asked by Anthopoulos to improve those numbers by not chasing pitches out of the strike zone. He did just that. In the second month, Lawrie had 14 walks and 13 strikeouts. Bring him up.
Meanwhile, in Tuesday’s loss, the dynamic right-hander Brandon Morrow (2-3) struggled with his command, but struck out nine in his five innings of work. He was roughed up for nine hits, including three by catcher Carlos Santana and two each by Michael Brantley and Grady Sizemore.
The Jays managed 10 hits against starter Mitch Talbot (2-1) and the Indians’ bullpen. Shortstop Yunel Escobar homered and reached base five times, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, tying his career high. Jose Bautista collected three singles.
