Diamondbacks prospect Jordan Lawlar is doing everything he can to push for a major league promotion, as he’s currently mashing in Triple-A. Assuming he eventually cements himself in the majors, the question will be what position he plays.
He came up as a shortstop prospect but the Diamondbacks don’t have much need at that position. Geraldo Perdomo took over regular shortstop duties in 2022. The Diamondbacks are evidently pleased with him there as they recently signed him to an extension that runs through 2029 with a club option for 2030. They could move Perdomo to second or third base, where he has some experience. However, his bat has only been around league average in recent years, as his speed and defense at short are his primary ways of providing value.
That has made it seem like Lawlar would eventually move to second or third. He has always had tremendous offensive numbers in the minors, so his bat should play elsewhere. The Snakes have had Ketel Marte as their regular second baseman for years and he’s signed well into the future as well, which seemingly made third base Lawlar’s best path. However, Bob Nightengale of USA Today says that some scouts think Lawlar will take over at second and bump Marte to first.
There hasn’t been any reporting to suggest that the Snakes do plan on moving Marte to first, but perhaps their usage of Lawlar this year is a tell. With Triple-A Reno, he has 123 innings at second base so far. He has just 36 innings at third base this year and just 95 in his entire minor league career. He has hundreds of innings at shortstop over the years but just 54 in 2025.
It would be an interesting pivot if the club is making it. The Diamondbacks acquired Eugenio Suárez ahead of 2024 to cover the third base position. He was going into the final season of his contract, so it seemed possible that he was simply a stopgap until Lawlar was ready. Suárez struggled badly in the first half of last year but Lawlar spent most of 2024 injured, dealing with thumb and hamstring injuries. He only got into 23 minor league games last year, giving Suárez a chance to get back on track. Suárez destroyed baseballs enough in the second half that the club picked up their $15MM option on him for 2025, instead of going for the $2MM buyout.
Coming into 2025, it was still fair to expect that Suárez would eventually give way to Lawlar. Suárez turns 34 in July and will be a free agent at season’s end. That could still be the plan but the fact that Lawlar is playing a lot of second base is interesting. Marte has had some injury absences in his career and is currently on the injured list with a hamstring strain. He is 31 years old and the club recently extended him through 2031, which would be his age-37 season. Perhaps they believe that moving him to first base would be the best thing for his long-term health.
Right now, Josh Naylor and Pavin Smith are sharing first base and designated hitter duties. Naylor is an impending free agent, so that could provide an opening for Marte to slide into as soon as next year.
This is all still fairly speculative but it’s a notable position for the Snakes to be in. It’s possible that they are simply moving Lawlar around to different positions, experimenting to see how things go. If he seems viable at multiple spots, that will give them more choice for how to proceed next offseason, with both first and third base set to be vacated going into the winter. Another factor could be that LuJames Groover is also one of the club’s top ten prospects and is currently hitting well at Double-A while playing third base regularly.
However it plays out defensively, Lawlar is generating a lot of excitement with his bat. He’s currently sporting a line of .356/.451/.644 with Reno this year. He won’t be able to maintain a .457 batting average on balls in play forever but he has five home runs and a 13% walk rate. He also has 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts through 26 games.
Photo courtesy of Michael Chow, Imagn Images
as a diehard dbacks fan its insane he’s not up yet! He brings so much to the table. We are to inconsistent.
Service clock, man. Pretty obvious that is the reason why Lawlar hasn’t been up yet, paired with the injury history and his terrible showing the first time he was up before those injuries.
If my napkin math is correct, based on his service time from 2023, he won’t be called up before May 5th to avoid a year of service time. So hopefully it is only one more week.
Hopefully it’s in 10 days after the Mets are done playing the Dbacks.
This is what I said on X and tweeted them some idiots Said it’s not. There’s no other logical explanation. If he’s comes up May 1st then you know
Or maybe he’s not that good and the Dbacks don’t want to expose him.
He’s overachieving in Reno with a spotty minor league history due to injuries. Plus there’s no room for him. So doesn’t seem warranted or a service time issue to me. He just needs a bit more grooming
Is LuJames short for LilJames?
Im not sure where LuJames came from but his name was Gino Groover.
He used to go by Gino. After the Breakout Game this Spring, he told DBacks reporters he wants to go by LuJames, his legal name
Gino is a cooler name.
Maybe he didn’t want to be “the other Gino” at 3B? 😂
Blaze Alexander is far down on the depth chart I guess
Of course he is. His defense is awful and his bat got steadily horrible after a strong first weekish in the majors. He’s depth. That’s good to have. But his future is Josh Rojas, not Lawlar or Groover.
Too bad Lawlar can’t play 1B.
He obviously could, but why would you want him to?
I looked at Lawler’s stats earlier this year at AAA Reno, and saw a huge Red Flag. He was striking out at over 40% rate in the early going. His strikeout rate is down just under 28% now, so it is vastly improved.
I think the injury shortened season last year was a second factor in keeping him at AAA Reno to start the year. He needed some regular at bats at AAA, something he wasn’t going to get in the majors with a contending team.
But those two huge Red Flags are gone now, and that is the reason fans are now clamoring for Lawler to be promoted.
His promotion has nothing to do with service time. Why would a contending team put out $200 M on a pitcher and then not field the best possible team? Lawler wasn’t part of the best possible team to begin the season. He’s getting close now.
He would have been the 2nd best hitter on your team behind Carroll. He was ready on opening day.
He’s playing better, but he still Ks way too much. He’s on pace for 167 Ks, in AAA, in the PCL. My guess is that becomes 190 in the pros. That seldom works out well.
Besides players like Judge and Ohtani?
Naylor, Smith, and Suarez are all raking this year, and Perdomo is an outstanding defensive shortstop having his best season at the plate.
If Marte is moved this year, it’ll be to the outfield. That would push Lourdes Gurriel and Alek Thomas into platoon roles with Jake McCarthy becoming trade bait.
Phillies
Suarez just climbed over the Mendoza Line 2 games ago. I hardly consider that raking. Unless of course you only consider HR numbers when assessing “raking”. He has 20 hits in 97 at bats, and 10 of those are HR. HR are sexy these days, but I don’t consider excelling only in HR “raking”..
Remember Dave Kingman? For the Mets in 1982, he hit 37 HR…and batted .204! I don’t consider that raking.
To say nothing of how Marte will never play outfield again. Absolutely destroyed every aspect of his game that took multiple seasons to bring back
That’s what kept Kong Kingman in the game so long…not to mention being ahead of his time in realizing silly rituals like bunting, hitting behind a runner, and swinging inside out for a measly hit were overrated. Earl Weaver was ahead of the game too 😁
There is a zero percent chance Marte would move to the outfield. It was disastrous for his performance and they’re concerned about keeping his hamstrings healthy.
Perdomo has an OBP exceeding .350 over his past 1000+ PA, led the league in SACs his past two healthy seasons and currently has considerably more BB than SO. Not bad for a league average bat in the 9-hole.
Sign a guy(marte)to an extention then disrespect him and ask him to move. -Devers .
LOL! When earn $30M a year, there is no disrespect. At that level, you either play or you don’t play. And I expect a very good year from him, have no objection to the contract, but you can either play 3rd or you can’t.
Offensively Perdomo is terrible for 3B. Maybe try Marte at 3B or just move him to DH when Naylor walks next winter and move Smith to 1B. They tried Marte once before in CF, maybe try an OF corner
Injuries aside, I’d be fairly surprised if Lawlar could out-play any of the AZ regulars.
He’s drastically better than anyone not named Corbin Carroll.