Lawrie in the notebook

This week's Southern League Notebook is Brett Lawrie-centric:

One of the youngest players in the Southern League at age 20, the Huntsville second baseman is making the most of his second Minor League season. He is hitting .295 and leads the league in hits (104), triples (11), extra-base hits (40) and total bases (167), while ranking fourth in steals (24).

Lawrie came into the season ranked No. 26 on MLB.com's Top 50 prospects list and hasn't disappointed. He was selected to Sunday's Futures Game, his second straight appearance in the contest, and earned a spot in Monday's Southern League All-Star Game.

Read it all. You are probably familiar with most of the story.

Brother and Sister

Larry Stone has this on the Lawries.

Let's start by answering the question everyone wants to know: No, Danielle Lawrie, the best college softball pitcher in the land, has never faced Brett Lawrie, the highest-drafted Canadian position player ever.

Not on the sandlots of Langley, B.C., where the siblings grew up dominating the diamonds. Not on one of the Lawrie family camping trips, where their father, Russ, would invariably wake up the kids at 7 a.m., find a nearby ball field, and insist upon a workout to start the day.

Not even in their backyard. For one thing, Brett said Tuesday, standing outside the Milwaukee Brewers' minor-league facility in Maryvale, there was the risk of injury if one of Danielle's screaming fastballs went astray. But that wasn't all of it.

"My dad is not really a fan of that. Not now, anyways," Danielle said last week while sitting in the dugout of the Husky Softball Stadium during a respite from her relentless dominance of college fastpitch.

"He doesn't think it's necessary, because either way, it's going to be a lose-lose. I strike him out, and he's super-pissed, or he gets a hit off me, and I'm really upset. So we'll just leave it at a mystery until the day it comes about."

Sounds about right. Much, much more at the link.

4 minutes with Brett Lawrie

Milwaukee radio station 1250 WSSP did a short interview with Brett Lawrie ('09) last night.

This link should take you right to it.

Prospects, prospects, prospects

Baseball America has unveiled their Top 100 Prospects list for the 2010 season.

Former Timber Rattlers on the list:

30. Michael Saunders ('06)

59. Brett Lawrie ('09)

83. Adam Moore ('06)

93. Phillippe Aumont ('08)

Lawrie goes to the future

Brett Lawrie is the latest Timber Rattler to be selected to participate in the Futures Game.

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers second baseman Brett Lawrie has been named to the World roster for the XM Futures Game. The annual prospect showcase will be held on Sunday, July 12 at Busch Stadium as part of All-Star Weekend in St. Louis, Missouri.

Lawrie, who just returned from the Midwest League All-Star game in Clinton, is hitting .268 with eight homers and 40 RBI with the Timber Rattlers this season. The Canadian from Langley, British Columbia was the first round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2008 draft and made his first professional debut with the Timber Rattlers back on April 9th of this year.

He's not the only player with Rattler ties to participate this year.

Alex Liddi ('06-'08) will be teammates with Lawrie on the World team. Chris Tillman ('07) is on Team USA. Liddi is in High Desert. Tillman is in Norfolk with the Orioles...remind me again how he wound up with Baltimore.

Off the top of my head I can think of Craig Anderson ('00), Phillippe Aumont ('08), and Shin soo Choo ('02) playing in the game in the same season they were with the Rattlers. A few others, Balentien and Chen played in the game after they left town.

They've been busy

Brett Lawrie's Player Profile is up at the Timber Rattler You Tube channel:



So is the latest Fang skit:

More to follow...well not today...and not here....over there....and sometime soon.

June 8, 2009: Transactions

The moves:

IF Brett Lawrie to the disabled list

IF Steve Braun transferred to Wisconsin from Helena

Just guessing here, but I think it may have a little to do with this:

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers second baseman Brett Lawrie will undergo surgery to repair the broken nose he suffered during the club’s recent road trip.

Lawrie, the Milwaukee Brewers’ first round selection in last June’s draft, said the procedure is expected to take place on Monday and will be performed by a local ear, nose and throat specialist.

“We’re just going to get it back in place,” he said prior to Thursday’s Midwest League game against Cedar Rapids at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute. “It’s not like hockey or football where it could happen again. It feels like it’s normal. I can breathe fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

Go...Read...

Now...

Stories on Brett Lawrie at JSOnline and Cody Scarpetta at the Rockford Register-Star.

The Lawries

The prodigal beat writer has a column on Brett Lawrie and his sister Danielle.

Sure, the Rattlers were still sparring with Midwest League counterpart Cedar Rapids, taking their hacks and trying to string together a rally in the bottom of the ninth in a contest they'd eventually drop 1-0.

But Lawrie wasn't due up for a while, so why not sneak away for a bit to see if his older sister, Danielle, could complete the dream?

"It was awesome," Lawrie said. "It was pretty cool."

There was Danielle, a 22-year-old star pitcher for the third-ranked University of Washington softball team, standing inside a circle of chalk in front of 5,800 fans and a mere two outs away from finishing off top-ranked Florida in the second game of the best-of-three NCAA Women's College World Series at Oklahoma City.

The Gators, trailing 3-2 in the seventh, were threatening with runners on first and second, but the junior right-hander settled down and did what she does best, pounding the strike zone, and got the next two batters to whiff.

Brett asks Brett a question that may have popped into more than one or two heads over the last few weeks...

[A]ny chance you could drill one of your sister's fastballs?

"Never tried," he said. "I think I could. I don't know. I guess those other softball players are making it look pretty tough, so I don't know if I'd have a chance.

"She's the better softball player, and I think that speaks for itself. The national player of the year, World Series MVP — I guess that says it all right there. It's unreal to see. Hat's off to her. I'm very proud of her."

As usual, go read it all.

A Championship for a Lawrie

Brett Lawrie's sister has a little NCAA Gold as part of the Women's Softball Champion University of Washington Huskies.

Washington's three-week, 6,899-mile trek through Massachusetts, Georgia and Oklahoma in the NCAA softball tournament ended with a national championship Tuesday.

National player of the year Danielle Lawrie rushed catcher Alicia Blake and second baseman Ashley Charters threw her glove to the Space Needle after the Huskies won their first NCAA title with a 3-2 victory over No. 1 Florida.

National Player of the Year; National Champion; she had a pretty good season right?

The No. 3 Huskies (51-12) won five of their six games here, all compete games, all by Lawrie, who was named the tournament MVP after striking out 48.

Lawrie, a junior, won her 42nd game, tying the Pac-10 season record, while giving up six hits and two runs, one earned.

She struck out eight, including the final two batters of the game with Florida runners on first and second base, to finish with 521 strikeouts, one short of the Pac-10 season record.

"I can't say enough about Danielle and the ability to carry a team on her back, from September 'til now," Tarr said.

Yep. Pretty good. Oh, there's more?

Lawrie handed the Gators three of their five losses this season while giving up one earned run in 23 innings, with two shutouts.

You know, if there is a visit to Appleton anytime soon, like say, maybe, possibly around Canada Day, there might be a first pitch at a Timber Rattler game in her future.

A good weekend to be a Lawrie

Brett Lawrie had a good weekend in West Michigan. 3-for-11, home run, 5 RBI. The homer erased a 3-1 deficit and gave the Rattlers a win on Saturday.

But, his sister...Holy smokes.

Washington's long trip will end exactly where the Huskies believe they belong, in the NCAA championship series.

Multi-tasking national player of the year Danielle Lawrie assured it with a grand slam and her 40th victory of the season in a 9-3 decision over Georgia before 4,954 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium on Sunday night.

"We don't take the easy road anywhere we go," Washington coach Heather Tarr said, alluding to a 9-8 loss in the first game to Georgia on Sunday.

The National Championship Series starts tonight between Washington and #1 Florida.

Pointing you in this direction

The Beloit Daily News story on Brett Lawrie is available on-line now.

Milwaukee Brewers' prospect Brett Lawrie knew learning second base wouldn't be easy, but he didn't think it would hurt so much.

The Canadian-born Lawrie took a grounder in the face during a game last week and suffered a broken nose and swollen left eye, but that's been the only blemish during his first season in professional baseball. The 16th overall pick in the 2008 First-Year Player draft has sparkled at the plate and made strides in the field for the Wisconsin TimberRattlers, the Brewers' new single-A affiliate.

When he was drafted, Lawrie was announced as a catcher, but he and the Brewers' front office decided to make the switch to second base during spring training. He has seven errors on the year, but none since May 9.

Go read it all.

May 15, 2009: Starting Lineup

Michael Marseco...SS
Juan Sanchez......3B
Brock Kjeldgaard..LF
Michael Vass......RF
Corey Kemp........DH
Jose Duran........2B
Edgar Trejo.......1B
Erik Miller.......CF
Sean McCraw........C

Cody Adams........SP

So...notice anything different.....

Lawrie is not in the starting lineup for the first time this season. He is 2-for-12 in the first three games of this series and 2-for-22 on the road trip.

Duran gets the start at second tonight. He played 27 games at second base with Helena last season, the most of anyone on the Brewers roster in 2008.

On defense

From the main Brewer site...Lawrie's move to second working out

"I didn't think he could do it," said Nichols, who has overseen Milwaukee's Minor League affiliates since November 2002. "And I certainly didn't think he could do it this quickly.

"But he has good range, good hands. I have been pleasantly surprised."

Considering Nichols' usually low-key assessment of even the hottest of prospects, that qualifies as a ringing endorsement of Lawrie, who began his Brewers career last month about 100 miles up the road from Miller Park at the Brewers' new Class A affiliate.

There is a mention of the laughable comment by an unnamed scout. Then, there is this:

"They always say, 'You can't do this or that,'" Lawrie said. "But that doesn't bother me. I know what I can do and what I can't do. It just makes me strive harder to get it done."

Check out the whole article and a hat tip to the fine folks of Brewersfan.net for finding the article. Not that I wouldn't have found it, it just that I saw it there before I checked out the Brewers site today.

Look who's blogging now!

Brett Christopherson, the once and future Timber Rattler beat writer from the Post-Crescent, has a blog. It's called...um, The Post-Crescent's Timber Rattler Blog? Come on, guys.

His latest post is here and it is titled Lawrie to Wisconsin?. A taste.

One of the more common questions following September's player development agreement between the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Milwaukee Brewers has been this:

Will Brett Lawrie wear Rattlers gear this season?

Baseball America thinks so. The publication, as part of its annual Prospect Handbook, projects the 19-year-old second baseman to make his professional debut this season at Wisconsin.

"Lawrie is an exceptional hitter, especially for his age, with a quick bat, aggressive nature and burgeoning power," Baseball America said.

The scouting report closed with this prediction: "He should hit enough to be a big league regular at any position."

Lawrie...Lawrie...That reminds me. You know who else has a blog now? Brett Lawrie. It's called Laying Down the Lawrie

His first post goes a little something like this:

Hey. This is Brett Lawrie. I was asked to do this blog and thought it might be worth a shot, so here goes. Was told I could talk about anything as the 2009 season moved forward, which I liked.

2008 was a busy year, for sure. Tons of travel, many baseball teams, lots of fishbowls. All the predraft events. Team Canada. The Draft. World Juniors. Olympics. Instructs. Training in Az. While I really like pressure, it is certain that 2009 will be a simpler year with far less running around - I can finally focus on playing games almost every day. This is exactly what I live for.

In the comments, he is asked if he knows where he is going to be assigned. No answer yet.

The switch

Baseball America has picked up on the Brett Lawrie to second story. They go the route of using a scout's comment -- BIG surprise -- from last spring that compared Lawrie to Dan Uggla. Then,

Now Lawrie will get to make that comparison look even smarter. The Brewers’ 2008 first-round pick, drafted as a catcher, will play second base this spring, according to BA correspondent Tom Haudricourt. According to Haudricourt, part of this move is calculated, as Lawrie believes he can move quicker at a position where he’s familiar, and part of it is an acknowledgement of the depth of catching talent ahead of him in the farm system, with Angel Salome and Jonathan Lucroy.

The real thing to remember is that Lawrie’s best position is in the batter’s box—a lot like Uggla.

Just pointing out that the first I heard of this story was at BrewerFan.net, through that post below on projected rosters. The news of him working out at second base was originally broken -- as far as I know -- in this post from February 10.

Bernie's Crew, The Bucky Channel, and Chuckie Hacks all check in with thoughts on the news. Click on those links for those individual posts.

Part III

The chat about the minor league system of the Brewers continues with the writers of Bernie's Crew and Between the Green Pillars chiming in on the catchers....Wonder who they might talk about in here?

Let's see....Salome....Lucroy....Ah, here he is!

Jim: Perhaps no one has been talked about more than Brett Lawrie and his desire to play catcher in the major leagues. No one has really seen him handle a pitching staff or try to block balls in the dirt, however, so he is almost a complete mystery. Part of me believes his bat will be so advanced that Milwaukee may give up on him catching and stick him at either third base or second in an attempt to get his bat in the big leagues. Brett is a wild card, but we will know more after the season.

Aaron: The team needs to stop talking about Lawrie as a backstop and send him right to second base. There is almost no depth in the Brewers’ minor league system and Lawrie's bat, if it goes the way it has been for Canada, puts him in the upper echelon at that position. Furthermore, he'll make it to the majors much, much faster.

Ryan: The Brewers are probably best served by taking a look at him behind the dish this spring, and possibly into the season, and then making up their minds if they want to stick with him back there. I'm not going to rule it out as a possibility that he could stay at catcher, but my guess is that he's a third basemen when it's all said and done. Second base could also be a landing spot, but the scouting stuff I've seen seems to suggest that he'll outgrow the position. Whatever they decide, they need to make a decision quickly and then commit to it 100%

Lawrie has been projected by just about everyone to be with the Timber Rattlers at some point in 2009.

The wait...

...it is almost over.

It looks like the legion of Milwaukee fans which has been itching to see their newest prospect, power-hitting catcher Brett Lawrie, stride to the plate in a Brewers uniform may have to wait just a little bit longer.

And the legion of Team Canada fans which has enjoyed watching the teenage phenom sport the maple leaf in international competition may get at least one more chance to do so before he officially embarks on what projects to be a great pro career.

Lawrie, who celebrated his 19th birthday last month, is on the provisional roster for Team Canada for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. And if recent history is any indication, he looks like a good bet to make the final cut.

The highest-drafted position player ever to come out of Canada, Lawrie was selected 16th overall last spring by Milwaukee out of high school in Langley, B.C.

Scouts drooled over the right-handed hitter's prodigious power, prominently displayed during an extended spring training exhibition doubleheader against the Seattle Mariners' Dominican League team in which he hit five homers. A pure hitter with outstanding bat speed and a good feel for hitting, the third baseman/catcher has the potential to be the whole package.

There's a joke in there about scouts and drool....but, I'm not gonna make it.

Lawrie at #5

Jim at Bernie's Crew has placed Brett Lawrie at #5 on his list of top Brewer prospects.

Brett Lawrie is perhaps the most difficult Brewers prospect to evaluate because, well, we have not seen him play an inning of professional baseball. Scouting reports have been overwhelmingly positive, however, so there is plenty of reason to rank Brett in the Top 5. It is not all hype. The young man has raw plus-plus power. His performance against professional pitchers in the Dominican Republic has become stuff of legend to those who have seen it. The young man went 21-for-30 with fourteen extra base hits. According to Baseball America, those games included a three-home run game against one Dominican Summer League team, and socked five more homers in a double header in the Dominican. That is the type of raw power we are talking about with Lawrie.

One of the most difficult steps for a high school hitter is to make the transition from aluminum bats to wooden bats. How can the Brewers be so sure Brett will acclimate quickly?

It is rather simple, actually. Brett has been using wooden bats exclusively since he was 14-years old. In case you were not impressed by his monster numbers with the Canadian Junior National Team, you should be now. The 19-year old can hit for power to all parts of the field, which is fairly uncommon for a player so young. He can be a little pull-conscious sometimes, however, which can largely be attributed to his partially open stance. Brett already has his hips a bit open. It is quite easy for him to get the barrel around and pull the baseball. I suspect that will correct itself as he matures in the minors, but it is obviously something to keep an eye on next season.

There is video at the link of CBC-Edmonton news report from the World Junior Championships.

Where does Jim think you will be able to keep an eye on Lawrie?

I, as well as every other Brewer fan, am really excited to see Brett make his professional debut in Milwaukee's system this upcoming season. There has been talk about keeping him in extended Spring Training for a bit, but his bat is advanced enough that I expect Brett to begin the 2009 season with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in Appleton. That team is going to be star-studded. Jake Odorizzi, Erik Komatsu, Cutter Dykstra, Cody Scarpetta, Trey Watten, Brock Kjeldgaard, Wily Peralta, Efrain Nieves, and Brett Lawrie should be exciting to watch day in and day out. To think about the talent Milwaukee has coming to Appleton is incredible. I, for one, will be there to watch plenty of it. You should be as well, if possible.

Yes. Yes, you should.

69 dies insquequo Oris Dies

Lawrie at #7

Ryan at Between the Green Pillars placed Brett Lawrie at #7 on his list of top Brewer Prospects.

Click the link for a report, but here is what Ryan thinks the near future holds for the 2008 #1 pick:

For his part, Lawrie expects to move quickly. He’s told multiple sources that he expects to be in the minors for a “year and a half” which would put him in the majors before the end of the 2010 season at the age of 20. To do that, he will have to absolutely kill the ball and establish a position with amazing speed. Obviously, Lawrie doesn’t lack confidence in Lawrie, which is something that also comes through in every interview he’s given. He has the skills to suggest that it’s not all empty boasting and that he can back it up, but we’ll just have to wait for spring to see just what he can do. The Brewers may elect to send him to extended spring training and possibly even to Pioneer league when it opens play in June, but if he’s going to move as fast as he thinks he can, he’ll be seeing Appleton before mid summer. If Lawrie shows he can hit pro pitching and play a passable catcher, expect to see him near or at the top of this list next year.

I bolded the part that is most important to Timber Rattler fans.