Brett Lawrie = Mike Schmidt?

number15 · Post #1 » by **number15** » Mon May 2, 2011 8:53 pm

Blue Jays prospect Brett Lawrie may be ready to make an impact at the major-league level.

"He's going to be an impact player and soon at the big-league level," a National League scout told the Toronto Sun.

The scout added that those within Toronto's organization have compared Lawrie to a Hall of Famer.

"Some of the Jays scouts were comparing him to [Mike] Schmidt," he said.

Schmidt hit 548 home runs and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1995.

"Lawrie can run, has a quick bat and can lose a ball in a hurry, I can see the Schmidt comparison a little," said the scout. "He's a little bit of a front-foot hitter, so are others. The thing is, he isnâ€™t afraid of anything.

"From what I have seen, from what everyone says about the guy, Brett Lawrie does not fit the historical developmental curve."

Read more: http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... z1LELu6dM9

Wo1verine · Post #2 » by **Wo1verine** » Mon May 2, 2011 9:02 pm

I doubt it, but he'll be a really good player..

Post #3 » by **Duffman100** » Mon May 2, 2011 9:03 pm

Enough of E5 already...can't wait for this guy to come to the majors.

Hoopstarr · Post #4 » by **Hoopstarr** » Mon May 2, 2011 9:14 pm

Schmidt racked up huge walk totals and won 10 gold gloves, something that Lawrie is simply not going to do. I've been watching some video of him and the front-foot hitter rep is very real. His open, crouching stance is made for hard line drives. If he still had a lot of projection left in his body, I'd say he'd develop power later but his body is already built like a tank and physically matured. We don't have his contact profile but I bet he's extremely aggressive in the strike zone. His problems with errors are not a good sign either. I like him a lot, but I like him as a classic aggressive hitting middle-infielder with 20 HR pop and not the 30+ HR thumping 3B he's being groomed to be. I think he ends up more like Dan Uggla with less HRs and a better average.

number15 · Post #5 » by **number15** » Mon May 2, 2011 9:15 pm

Duffman100 wrote:Enough of E5 already...can't wait for this guy to come to the majors.

Do you really want to rush him........ JAYS rushed Snider, and it didnt turn out so good.

Snider as a top prospect still, could have dominated the minors until now and maybe be brought up this season, instead he is struggling the stay alive at the MLB level..... Lawrie is similary in his timeline

Lateral Quicks · Post #6 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Mon May 2, 2011 10:21 pm

Hoopstarr wrote:Schmidt racked up huge walk totals and won 10 gold gloves, something that Lawrie is simply not going to do. I've been watching some video of him and the front-foot hitter rep is very real. His open, crouching stance is made for hard line drives. If he still had a lot of projection left in his body, I'd say he'd develop power later but his body is already built like a tank and physically matured. We don't have his contact profile but I bet he's extremely aggressive in the strike zone. His problems with errors are not a good sign either. I like him a lot, but I like him as a classic aggressive hitting middle-infielder with 20 HR pop and not the 30+ HR thumping 3B he's being groomed to be. I think he ends up more like Dan Uggla with less HRs and a better average.

To be fair, Lawrie is only two months into learning a new position at 3B, so we can't really take those erros too seriously. If he's still making that many next year, then we have cause for concern.

I project him as a perennial .300+ hitter with 25HR+ power. As to his ceiling, I haven't seen enough of him to say for sure. But it's awfully nice to see these kind of comparisons made by professional scouts.

To be a really valuable hitter, I'd like to see him cut down on his strikeouts and up his walk rate. If he can do that while hitting for average and power, defense will not be an impediment to his promotion.

rarefind · Post #7 » by **rarefind** » Mon May 2, 2011 11:05 pm

there is a bit of his game that makes me think david wright, we'll see.

Post #8 » by **OldNo7** » Tue May 3, 2011 2:00 am

So we traded Marcum for the equivalent of the best 3B of all time? Sweet! Where are all the haters now?

J Dilla · Post #9 » by **J Dilla** » Tue May 3, 2011 4:46 am

I'll believe it when I see it.

Wo1verine · Post #10 » by **Wo1verine** » Tue May 3, 2011 5:28 am

Yeah, i highly doubt Lawrie is going to win 10 GG's , and hit over 500 HR's.. I still really like him as a player though.

ItsDanger · Post #11 » by **ItsDanger** » Tue May 3, 2011 2:40 pm

Schmidt? LOL. No way he has his power let alone the glove. Who comes with this stuff?

Post #12 » by **YogiStewart** » Tue May 3, 2011 9:11 pm

Bull Schmidt.

Homer Jay · Post #13 » by **Homer Jay** » Wed May 4, 2011 2:11 am

Schmidt is arguably the best 3B in the history of the game. 500 hrs in a fairly dead ball era? Unbelievable!

Lawrie is yet to play a single MLB game so yeah...

tecumseh18 · Post #14 » by **tecumseh18** » Wed May 4, 2011 2:51 am

I actually remember Schmidt (and Carlton, Bowa, McGraw and all those Phillies). Things always make a more of an impression on you when you're a kid, but Schmidt was, y'know, great. The best five-tool two-way 3rd baseman I've ever seen.

Comparing Lawrie to Schmidt is like comparing DeMar to Kobe. People still do it (apparently), but they'd have to be clinically insane to take it seriously.