While it’s undeniable that Dustin Lawley‘s age is a significant factor in his future with the Mets organization, he still managed put up impressive numbers in 469 at bats for the St. Lucie Mets this year. He had a breakout season in which he displayed legitimate signs of power, contact and flexible fielding.
Lawley was drafted by the Mets in the 19 round of the 2011 amateur draft out of Division II University of West Florida. He was scouted as a transitional outfielder with some pop in his bat, mostly gap power, and impressive speed.
However, this year, Lawley is having a career season.
Before jumping to AAA Las Vegas on August 28, Lawley was leading the Florida Coast League in a number of offensive categories.
He currently leads the league in home runs with 25, 6 more than the next highest and more home runs than he had hit in his previous two years combined. Lawley is also the league leader in slugging percentage, .512, and total bases, 240.
Lawley also ranks second in the league for RBI’s at 92.
It should also be noted that Lawley has spent some time playing for Las Vegas. Even though his time may have only amounted to 6 games and 21 plate appearances, he still managed to hit 2 doubles, 1 home run and 4 RBI’s. Since the move Lawley is hitting .300/.333.550.
His 96 combined RBI’s is the most by a Mets farmhand since Brett Harper hit 102 in 2005.
Lawley has shown a lot of promise this season, truly finding his bat and putting some legitimate power on the ball. He appears to be doing well in AAA, but theres not nearly enough time to accurately tell how he will fit at this new level. And while a powerful outfielder with decent speed and fielding ability is certainly nice to have, his age (he will be 25 next season) is just too much of a factor for him to be seriously considered for the future.
Timothy,
What’s unbelievable is that you, at what – age 21 or 22 – using your keyboard to pronounce a 24 year old as non-prospect based upon old age. Are you kidding me? Your conclusion shows your inexperience and I’d say, a bit of grandiose thinking to believe you have a 24 year old figured out to make the ridiculous blanket statement you did. The long history of major league baseball is filled with examples to the contrary.
The long history of major league baseball is also filled with examples on the opposite end of what you’re saying. I’m not saying Tim is right in his opinion, but he’s entitled to it. I’m interested to see what Lawley has to offer the 51s in the playoffs and hopefully he’ll be assigned there again in 2014. As Tim said, his season has put him on the map, but there’s not enough evidence yet to prove he’ll be a legitimate solution, yet. Hopefully, he’ll provide it in the coming weeks and months.
The age thing, in my opinion, isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Even if I don’t agree with it.
You know the phrase, “old for the league”, right? Lawley being 24 and having success in St. Lucie was thrown under question because of age.
He was a little old for the league and could have benefited from that. In my eyes, it’s not enough to call him a non-prospect, but it is for some. Just an opinion.
He’s entitled to his opinion but I don’t find it credible.
There’s no justification for writing someone off at 24 on the basis of age irrespective of talent or good performance at whatever level.
Lawley was drafted at 22 and is in AAA at 24. Timothy Gilbert would have written off the likes of osh Hamilton who at 25, was in A-Ball with .687 OPS. Carlos Ruiz who was in A & AA at 24, so too Dan Uggla. Every player should be individually judged rather than what T.G. did which was to write him off on age-related business. It’s a good bet he would have written off Scott Rice, and RA Dickey years ago.
He was drafted at 22, hence started in Rookie Ball.
At 23, he was in Low A Savannah and at 24, St. Lucie and now Las Vegas. He’s been steadily moving up the ladder and can only play where Mets opt to play him.
Yeah, he was a senior sign I think, right?
Believe me, if he repeats this success in Triple-A at this age, I’ll be pleased. I have some faith.
Alright, well Lawley had been in AAA for about two weeks.
Plus, you didn’t write off Dikey and Rice years ago, like everyone else did? I wouldn’t believe that. Also, josh Hamilton and Dan Uggla have had All-Star seasons, but not so much in 2013.
We can agree to disagree, and I actually agree with you that Lawley has a shot at making a legit impact, but that’s still to be determined barring his performance. I don’t think Tim is completely writing him off, but that’s just how I interpreted it.
It’s true that he can’t control where he plays, but that doesn’t mean we have to consider him part of the future because he dominated A ball as a 24 year old. I want to see how he performs over an extended period of time at higher levels before I get to that point, and i think that was all Timothy was trying to say in his post.
And there’s way more examples of players that didn’t have good major league careers despite having minor league success when they were old for their level.
Dickey and Hamilton are extreme cases. Dickey radically transformed himself into knuckle ball pitcher as a last resort to save his career, and even seriously considered pitching with Korea before signing with the Mets,
Hamilton was a #1 overall pick, and he suffered from some serious personal issues before his career took off with Texas.
The situation those guys were in aren’t comparable at all to Lawley.
The first and last paragraph kind of contradict each other. The first one feels like you are arguing for him as a prospect while the last paragraph specifically the last sentence abruptly dismissea that idea.