DUNEDIN — Even though the Toronto Blue Jays will most likely start him on the disabled list, Brett Lawrie says he has no intention of slowing down.
Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos told Sportsnet’s Mike Wilner on Sunday the team is leaning towards having the third baseman start the year on the DL to give him time to get enough at-bats to be sharp for the regular season as he continues to rehabilitate a rib strain.
But let’s get one thing straight about Brett Lawrie: regardless of how hard those around him try to “rein him in,” he has no plans to ease up when it comes to the way he plays the game.
Where there is a noticeable change this spring is how he’s handling his rib cage injury. Unlike a broken bone, which you can see heal; this is something that Lawrie has to be open and honest about.
“If you go out there, not at 100 per cent, you’re running a lot of risk on that injury,” said the 23-year-old. “I don’t wanna go out at 90 per cent, when I should be 100 … The next thing you know; you’re postponing the injury to two months. That’s a bad penalty.”
Last year Lawrie took that “penalty.” A strained oblique that he figured he could simply play through, cost him almost the entire month of August. So when he felt a twinge during a WBC exhibition game, he chose to speak up about it.
Admitting he was better off shutting it down, despite how much it meant for him to represent Canada, was a sign Lawrie may finally be learning when to pull back on the reigns.
“I took myself out of the World Baseball Classic,” said Lawrie. “I did that on purpose, so I could catch it early, so it didn’t become a month and a half.”
“Now I’m just trying to get it better, and it’s doing its own thing. It’s getting better when it wants to.”
Which brings us to Opening Day, just over a week from now. Lawrie would love nothing more than to head north with the team, hear his name introduced, and play in front of a sold out Rogers Centre, but not at the risk of making things worse.
“That’s (Opening Day) definitely the goal, but at the same time, I wanna make sure I’m 100 per cent. If not, I’m not going to go out there because if I do that, I’ve wasted all this time doing nothing.”
While many of his teammates enjoyed a day off Sunday, Lawrie was at the ballpark bright and early playing catch, hitting balls off a tee, and rehabbing.
When he does return, he’ll continue to be the same player he always has been. Will he jump into a camera bay to catch a foul ball? Not likely. But slow down? Never.