The Nationals announced Thursday that right-handed reliever Justin Lawrence passed through waivers unclaimed following his recent DFA. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. Lawrence had the right to reject the assignment and elect free agency, although doing so would’ve meant forfeiting the remainder of his $1.225MM guarantee this season. Unsurprisingly, he chose to accept the assignment, according to the team. He’ll head to Rochester and will no longer count against the Nats’ 40-man roster.
Washington added Lawrence, 31, on a waiver claim last month after the Twins designated him for assignment. The Nats are his third team of the season. He opened the year with the Pirates.
Between the Bucs, Twins and Nats, Lawrence has pitched 34 1/3 innings but been tagged for a 7.34 ERA. He’s fanned nearly one-quarter of his opponents but has been dogged by a dismal 15.8% walk rate and a similarly alarming 2.36 HR/9 mark. Lawrence throws hard, gets plenty of movement on his pitches and can both miss bats and induce grounders, but he hasn’t been nearly precise enough with his location to consistently get big league hitters out.
Back in 2023, Lawrence tossed a career-high 75 big league innings for the Rockies. His 3.72 ERA was sharp, particularly given his treacherous home setting, and he found success with plus strikeout and grounder rates while showing a more manageable 11% walk rate and just a 0.60 HR/9. Last year, he allowed only one run in 17 2/3 innings with Pittsburgh.
Lawrence clearly has good enough stuff to be a big league reliever, it’s just a question of whether he can rein in the walks and avoid hanging pitches in the middle of the plate. To this point, he hasn’t been able to do so in a steady, year-over-year fashion. He’ll try to get back on track with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate. Given the patchwork nature of Washington’s bullpen, he could get another look in the final couple months if he can string together a few strong weeks. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster before the offseason, Lawrence will have the right to become a free agent, as is the case for any player with three-plus years of major league service who accepts an outright assignment and is not subsequently re-selected to the 40-man.
