Diamondbacks shortstop Jordan Lawlar will undergo surgery on his right thumb and will be out of action for eight to ten weeks, per a report from Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The young shortstop injured his thumb trying to pick up a ball during a minor league Spring Training game, suffering a ruptured UCL ligament.
Lawlar, 21, wasn’t going to be in the Opening Day plans for the Diamondbacks but is one of the top prospects in the league and made his major league debut last year. He hit just .129/.206/.129 in his first 34 major league plate appearances last year and the Snakes decided to go with Geraldo Perdomo as their primary shortstop to start the 2024 campaign, but Lawlar could have been knocking on the door if he were playing well in Triple-A. That will now be on hold for at least a few months while he is recovering from surgery instead.
The sixth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Lawlar has quickly shot up through the minor leagues. Last year, he played 105 games on the farm between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting 20 home runs and drawing walks in 11.4% of his plate appearances. His .278/.378/.496 combined batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 126, indicating he was 26% better than league average. He also stole 36 bases in 41 tries.
Since Lawlar is also considered a strong defender, his all-around contributions have him near the top of all prospect lists. He is #7 overall at Baseball America, #8 at FanGraphs, #11 at MLB Pipeline, #17 at ESPN while Keith Law of The Athletic has him in the #4 slot.
Despite all that prospect hype, Lawlar is still young and had just 30 games played above Double-A, 14 of which were his aforementioned struggles in the big leagues last year. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced last month that the club would open the season with Perdomo as the everyday shortstop. Perdomo had a nice season in 2023, combining roughly average offense with solid defense and 16 stolen bases.
It seems a matter of time before Lawlar pushes Perdomo for that job but this injury will kick that down the road by a few months. It’s the second hit to the shortstop depth for the Snakes today, as Kevin Newman also opted out of his minor league deal. Lawlar was optioned to the minors a couple of weeks ago, so he will be on the minor league injured list and won’t accrue major league service time.
Thumbs down
Crap
Dbacks done for
Welcome to the show, Blaze Alexander
Blaze looks very good in ST, like he belongs, and he has solid defense. I look forward to seeing his big league at bats. He’s earned that. He’s a really good young player.
We won’t see him in the show this year
as a diehard dbacks fan they have a better one in Blaze. Jordan is good. But I like Blaze better.
Db44
What are you smoking?
Note: This is only a marijuana joke, not a comment on Blaze vs Lawler
Bad joke.
Muted.
Even worse joke.
Lol. I’ll laugh I’m high
Yikes. Worst take I’ve seen on MLBTR in months, which is an amazing accomplishment. Pat yourself on the back.
The Answer for this situation
Jorge Mateo
He will solve this problem and answer all questions for the Arizona Diamondbacks
He’s had acting lessons, dancing lessons, singing lessons, he has prepared his whole life for this moment!!! And he is ready!!!!
Perdomo was going to be the regular SS anyway, Lawler was heading back to AAA to play every day, it really hurts his progression to play a full year in AAA, the D’Backs were looking at 2025 for him to be the everyday SS in the bigs. Just a bad setback for the kid.
He’ll be lucky to play a couple months in AAA. Hand injuries are no joke for hitters AND shortstops.
Is it me or is this the most preseason injuries of all time
Misty
If you are referring to the Dbacks only…we were spoiled last year by very few injuries all season. Things are back to normal injury wise.
This. Injuries are random and no, it hasn’t seemed terribly out of the ordinary.
Call me crazy
But Ive never seen so many injuries before regular season begins
You crazy!
Top 4 most overrated teams.
1. Miami
2. Tampa
3. Yankees
4. Arizona
Lmao, I’d love to see your underrated list, because this one is unhinged aside from NY
Underrated:
1. Cubs
2. Minnesota
3. San Diego
Who’s rating Marlins high? Their whole rotation is out, almost. Tampa I agree. Yanks and AZ are about correct: 2nd place teams fighting for a wild card.
I don’t even think Marlins fans rank them highly.
79 over under wins in Vegas. That means half the public thinka they won more
That seems about right. That doesn’t say “rated highly” to me.
How is the defending NL Champion that improved and isn’t predicted to win the division underrated? Do you think fairly rated would be not getting the Wildcard? Sounds like you underrate them but that just shows you’re big market bias.
Move the Yankees up to the one spot.
Miami is not overrated they just suck more than likely this year
Still no clue why he was called up in September last year to play the bench instead of Nick Ahmed.
Awww, poor king.
Evolution has created 1 really small, but important appendage.
Hand injuries are unpredictable. I would hope for the best and prepare for the worst w/ regards to this season. If Lawlar can get 3 months of AAA development after recovery it would be a successful year for him after this injury.
“Welcome to the club” -Joey Bart
It will stick out like a sore thumb.
Hope he recovers well.
The Dbacks have depth at short (Blaze) and Gerry is a winning core young player. He had a great first half, struggled for part of the season, then played clutch in the playoffs. I understand how fans are drooling for Lawler to take over because he has superstar talent (and hype) but it isn’t that easy, and Gerry has developed into a very valuable player (winning player who leads) at the second most important position on the field. He has the respect of his coaches and team. Give him the respect he’s earned.
Is there a law that WRC has to be explained by the percent above average after a comma EVERY. DAMN TIME? I’m pretty sure the readers of MLBTR have somewhat of a grasp on the concept at this point or can we just say 26%?
Trade him!
Picking up a ball? Like on a barehand play in the field?