Jordan Lawlar Exits Game After Hit By Pitch
Diamondbacks infield prospect Jordan Lawlar was hit in the right wrist by a pitch in the first inning in a game against the Frisco RoughRiders. The D-backs No. 3 prospect was pulled from the game at the conclusion of the inning. After the game, a team official informed us that X-rays on Lawlar's right hand came back negative and is considered day-to-day.
Lawlar, 20, is currently batting .178 with four doubles, a triple, and five home runs with Double-A Amarillo. He was selected by Arizona with the sixth overall pick of the 2021 MLB Draft, due to his potential five-tool impact at shortstop. MLB Pipeline currently lists him as one of the Top 10 prospects in baseball.
In his three years with the organization, he's seen his fair share of injuries. His debut summer was cut short when he tore the labrum in his left shoulder in his second game and underwent surgery. Last season he missed three weeks with lower back soreness, which turned into a health scare as he developed a benign bone growth in one of his ribs. The D-backs sent him to the Arizona Fall League to make up for lost time, but he missed the final two weeks after suffering a fractured scapula after getting hit in the left shoulder by a pitch.
The combination of poor performance at the plate this year coupled with all he lost time to injury probably mean the accelerated promotion timeline that many assumed he would be on, (similar to Corbin Carroll's) is not going to happen this year. Lawlar will need to get healthy and start hitting in Amarillo before the team moves him to Reno, and his MLB debut may have to wait until next year. Of course with prospects of his caliber you never know. Something could click and he could go on a second half tear. That's likely what it will take to see him in MLB by September.
