Brett Lawrie

Brett Lawrie
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 13
Third baseman
Born: (1990-01-18) January 18, 1990 Langley, British Columbia
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 5, 2011 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Career statistics (through May 24, 2013)
Batting average	.264
Hits	204
Home runs	25
Runs batted in	86
Stolen bases	20
Teams
Toronto Blue Jays (2011–present)

Brett R. Lawrie (born January 18, 1990) is a Canadian professional baseball third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball.

Minor League career

While playing high school baseball for the Langley Blaze of the B.C. Premier Baseball League, Lawrie was selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. The selection of Lawrie was the fourth-highest a Canadian player has ever been drafted, behind only Jeff Francis, Adam Loewen, and Phillippe Aumont and the highest a Canadian position player has ever been drafted (Loewen was drafted as a pitcher, but now is a position player with the Toronto Blue Jays organization on a minor league contract).

Lawrie was a member of the Canadian Junior National Team at the 2008 World Junior Baseball Championship where he led the tournament with a .469 batting average, 3 home runs and 16 RBI. He was also selected to play for Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Lawrie batting for the Las Vegas 51s, Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, in 2011.

Lawrie represented Canada once again during the 2009 World Baseball Classic at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario. His only appearance during Canada's brief run in the tournament came during a 6–5 loss to the United States where he pinch-ran for Joey Votto in the 9th inning.

Brett Lawrie

Medal record
Men’s Baseball
Competitor for Canada
Baseball World Cup
Bronze	2009 Nettuno	National team

Although he was used primarily as a catcher for the Blaze, Lawrie transitioned to second base when he was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League to begin the 2009 season. He was selected to play for the World Team at the 2009 MLB All-Star Futures Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. He was promoted to the Double-A Huntsville Stars in mid-August. On June 23, Lawrie was selected to the 2010 Futures Games, his second selection.

Lawrie finished the 2010 season with a .285 batting average, 8 home runs, 63 RBI, 90 runs, 16 triples and 30 stolen bases in 135 games with Huntsville. For his efforts he was named to the Southern League Post-Season All-Star team on September 1, 2010. Considered by many to be one of Milwaukee's top prospects, he was traded on December 6, 2010 to the Toronto Blue Jays for starting pitcher Shaun Marcum. Despite already having switched positions from catcher to second base after the Brewers drafted him, the Blue Jays moved Lawrie to third base.

On May 31, Lawrie was hit in the hand by a pitch and left the game with what was initially believed to be a broken hand. X-rays were negative and he was considered day-to-day, until it was later revealed by CAT scan that there is a non-displaced fracture, and he was expected to miss 2–3 weeks.

After a brief stint in Single-A Dunedin ending with a game where he was hit by a pitch twice, Lawrie was promoted back to Triple-A Las Vegas on July 18, 2011.

Lawrie on the field prior to a game in 2011.

He was named the third baseman on Baseball America's 2011 Minor League All Star team.

Major League career

2011–2012

On August 4, 2011, Lawrie was called up to the Blue Jays. Travis Snider was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Lawrie. He made his debut on August 5 against the Baltimore Orioles. In his first career at-bat, he recorded his first career hit and RBI. He finished 2–4 with 1 RBI and a fielding error. Two games later, he hit his first career home run, a solo shot off of starter Alfredo Simón. In his second game at home on August 10, Lawrie recorded his first career grand slam, off of Oakland reliever Craig Breslow. The grand slam was also his first hit at the Rogers Centre. In the following series against the Los Angeles Angels, Lawrie recorded his first career triple and stolen base. On September 5, Lawrie hit his first career walk-off home run, a solo shot in the 11th inning off reliever Dan Wheeler to defeat the Boston Red Sox 1–0.

Lawrie's first season ended prematurely when, on September 21, he fractured the middle finger on his right hand while fielding during batting practice. He finished his first season with a batting average of .293, 9 home runs, 26 runs scored, 7 stolen bases and 25 RBI in 161 plate appearances.

Lawrie made the 40-man roster for the Toronto Blue Jays 2012 season.

On May 1, 2012, Lawrie hit a game-winning, walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Blue Jays an 8–7 win against the Texas Rangers. In a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 15, Lawrie was ejected from a game after objecting to being called out on two consecutive strikes by umpire Bill Miller. The two pitches in question were proven by replay and through computerized strike zone analysis to not be in the strike zone. After both pitches, Lawrie started down the baseline, only to hear the strike call. Upon the strikeout call, Lawrie turned and yelled, prompting Miller to eject him. Lawrie threw his helmet on the ground, which then bounced and made contact with Miller. Manager John Farrell was also ejected after arguing with Miller. Lawrie was suspended for four games by Major League Baseball, and initially appealed the suspension but dropped the appeal on May 17. After a 7–4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on June 2, Lawrie was present at the Toronto Eaton Centre when a shooting took place. Lawrie, who was unharmed, posted on Twitter about the incident and was credited by some news outlets with breaking the story. Lawrie was awarded the Wilson fielding award for his defensive play at third base on November 4.

2013

Lawrie was named to Canada's 2013 World Baseball Classic team, and took part in two pre-tournament games against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds. Lawrie exited the game against the Reds due to discomfort, and was later determined to have strained his ribs. He stayed with the team, but did not appear in the tournament due to this injury. Lawrie began the season on the disabled list, and made his season debut on April 16 against the Chicago White Sox, going 0-3 with an RBI.

Personal life

Lawrie became engaged to UCLA and United States women's national under-20 soccer team forward Sydney Leroux, a childhood friend against whom he played in youth baseball leagues in Metro Vancouver, in October 2010. They broke off the engagement in October 2011, during Leroux's senior year at UCLA and just before she received her first call-up to the United States women's national soccer team.

He is the brother of University of Washington softball pitcher Danielle Lawrie.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• COC Profile
• MiLB.com player profile
• Brett Lawrie on Twitter