Lawrie Excited to Showcase Talent

Connor Shreve

On Monday July, 12 the Southern League All Star game will be played in Huntsville, it’s the first time in 18 years that Joe Davis stadium will host the Southern League’s best and brightest. However one of Huntsville’s most promising players will not be able to attend the AA midsummer classic. Instead, Stars second baseman Brett Lawrie will be playing on a big league field as part of Major League Baseball’s All-Star weekend in Anaheim, CA.

On Tuesday June, 22 the selection of Lawrie to the World Team roster for the 2010 XM Future’s Game was released; it’s the second time in as many years that the 20 year old Canadian has been on the roster. Lawrie says knowing what the experience holds will help this time around. “I got the opportunity to do it last year,” he said, “Obviously it’s going to be a fun game, a lot of good players over there so it’s just a good day to show off your talents and play with the best caliber of players that are coming up and I’m excited to just go out there and have some fun.” In the 2009 contest, Lawrie helped his World team to a victory over the Americans with a 1-3 performance at the plate that included a double and a run.

In the 2009 Future’s Game Lawrie played with another Brewers prospect, Alcides Escobar, now Milwaukee’s starting short stop. At just 20 years of age, Huntsville’s youngster is no stranger to playing with the best competition. As an amateur, he played with the 2008 Canadian National junior team that competed in the World Baseball Championship as well as being selected to his nations 2008 Olympic squad. Along with his 2009 Future’s Game appearance, Lawrie was also chosen to participate in that year’s World Baseball Classic. In 2010, Lawrie will be on his own as the only Milwaukee representative at the XM Future’s Game.

Since signing with the Brewers for just shy of two million dollars as a first round selection in 2008, Lawrie has been placed on an express train to the Major Leagues. Many experts expect him to be Milwaukee’s opening day second baseman in 2012 but it hasn’t always been a typical rise for Lawrie, who holds the distinction of being Canada’s highest picked draftee ever. The ascension has been slowed by a defensive switch made in the middle of the 2009 campaign. Playing a number of positions as an amateur, Lawrie began his professional career as a catcher but a number of factors prompted the switch to second base including a potentially faster path to Major League Baseball. The young infielder has showed both improvement and promise in 2010 but has also committed 13 errors over a team leading 72 games played. Lawrie knows how quickly his defense takes shape may determine when he can button up a Brew Crew jersey. “I’ve worked tremendously hard in my defensive work,” he said. “My double play balls, my footwork to second, my footwork to first and just everything with the position I’ve worked hard at so I think I’ve done a good job with it.”

After a slow start to 2010, which included the majority of his 13 errors, Huntville’s infielder has been one of the Stars hottest hitters. In a month long stretch ending on June 24th, Lawrie raised his average from .264 to .299. That stretch included 11 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs and 18 RBI’s.

Wherever Lawrie plays, whether it’s Anaheim on July 11 or his seemingly inevitable next and last stop on the Minor League ladder in Nashville, the Brewers second baseman of tomorrow is guaranteed to put on a show. “I want to take the extra base, I don’t just accept the double, I always want to go for the triple. I just play the game hard and I feel that if something goes wrong when I’m playing that way, that’s the way the game goes. If I were to get hurt without playing hard, then I think I would have more regrets so I just play hard.”

As of June 25, Lawrie is batting .299 (88-294) with a league leading ten triples, 20 doubles, six home runs and 26 walks.