Tommy Lawrence has been in the baseball scene a majority of his life. Playing for West Haven High School he then went to the University of Maine with his first season in 2013 where he was the heart of their pitching rotation. The native westie is back in baseball here in 2021 after not playing in 2019 and 2020 and he is absolutely killing it!
Lawrence currently plays for the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League where he sits with ten wins so far this season, being only the second pitcher on the team to have a double digit win count. As a whole Lawrence has a 10-2 record and a 4.39 ERA through 84.0 innings pitched and 13-games started. Overall Lawrence’s ERA is the lowest it’s been through 50+IP since 2014 when he was with Maine (3.35/104.2) so it is safe to say that this is without a doubt a career season for the 30-year old righty. The former Tampa Bay prospect is without a doubt making a comeback and is getting noticed whether he knows it or not, he is showing up and pitching well.
Tommy Lawrence dominates hitters with his Fastball that sits at 85mph, throw in a Curveball that’s around 78mph and a Slider that slides in smoothly at 79mph and he is virtually unhittable. And folks that’s exactly what Tommy Lawrence is, unhittable. In the month of August Lawrence threw a strike 70% of the time, only walking four batters and had a total of 24 strikeouts. The CSW% on his Curveball is at 32%, way above MLB league average not to mention his spin rate is also at 2314 RPM, that would be top 35 in the majors.
The last time Lawrence played for an MLB team was in 2014 for the GCL Rays where he posted a 2.52 ERA through 12 games and 25.0 IP. If Lawrence can keep it up then you will definitely be seeing him back in a MiLB stadium and even possibly a MLB stadium.
Overall Tommy Lawrence is just one of three athletes in the history of West Haven High to play for/on a major league baseball team, a truly amazing feat.