The up and down season that Dustin Lawley is in the midst of has been garnering attention in the FSL. Lawley, who started the season on a cold streak, turned it on over the last month — especially in the power department. In fact, he has already matched his career high in home runs with 14 — in just 286 plate appearances. His previous career high came last season, when he launched 14 home runs and 35 doubles in 543 plate appearances. Lawley’s 14 jacks to date place him in the FSL’s Top 5.
Lawley’s listed at 6’1” / 195 LBs but he always looked like a bigger guy to me — and he surely generates more power than you would expect from his frame. He spends his majority of time in the outfield and at DH, but he has some experience at third base in college and in the minors, with 75 career games there.
Currently, his .236/.294/.498 slash may not look like the best in the world, especially since he usually gets by with a better average. However, take into consideration that he started the season with a .204 average in April and bumped it up to .274 across May. Over his last ten games, he is batting .293 (12-for-41) with two doubles, a triple, three home runs, twelve RBIs and nine runs scored. He has driven in a run in each of his last five games.
If the FSL All-Star can keep his average at least around the .260 range, we might see him in a Binghamton uniform very soon, since the Mets have been on a promotion spree lately.
Looks like Sandy wants to see what he has going into the trade deadline so he is starting to finally push his position players a little faster.
Since Steve Matz is Rule 5 eligible do you think Sandy will push him to PSl and then put him the AFL in the fall or do you think he keeps him under wraps in Savannah so teams stay away?
I always loved Lawleys versatility/power…..If he continues to develop he’d be a nice super utility in the mold of Michael Cuddyer/Allen Craig lite….
That’s a very interesting point. The good news is that there’s plenty of guys coming off or should be coming off the 40-Man so I’m not too worried about Matz being protected, he will be. He is after all one of the few lefty starters we have in the system, and he’s had a real solid season. I don’t see them rushing him because of all his past injuries and the fact that we have enough pitching, to let everyone have the time needed to develop. That said, if he keeps pitching well, he will move up fast enough (there’s that whole being the best lefty starter in the system thing).
I never really followed Lawley, but this season has gotten my attention. The bats in the system tend to leave many wanting. However, if guys like Lawley can keep producing up the ladder, we could be in a much better position that we though.
Yeah he’s been on my radar since draft day 2011….Every draft I pick a few guys I think are sleepers. 2011 was Lawley, Taijeron & Jeff Diehl….By those picks you could tell I was focused on POWER bats. Lawleys versatile reminds me of the many players the Cardinals have in their system good bats whom play multiple positions.
2012 draft was depressing but im watching Tomas Nido & Sabol