Jays sign Casey Lawrence to a minor league deal

We are reunited with Casey Lawrence.

Lawrence was an undrafted amateur free agent signing way back in 2010. He made a slow climb up our minor league ladder, even hitting the back end of our top prospect lists or on the ‘just missed out’ lists we did. And he was a favorite of mine, mostly out of curiosity to see how far an undrafted player could go. He made it all the way to the majors.

He was very consistent in the minors, getting in 20+ starts in 5 seasons.

In 2017, he made it to the Jays, pitching in 27 games, 2 starts, with a 6.34 ERA. He was DFAed late in the season and picked up by the Mariners. He pitched in 34 games for them in two seasons. After that, he spent a season with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Last year was spent at the Twins’ alternate site.

Casey was a control pitcher, few walks, few strikeouts, back when he was with the Jays. He threw a low 90s fastball, a slide, change, and occasional curve. At 33, I’d expect that he isn’t throwing any harder than that.

Lawrence will go to Buffalo/Trenton. I doubt we’ll see him with the Jays but, the way this season is going, you never know.