Minneapolis – Justin Lawrence was a fresh arrival in the Minnesota Twins clubhouse Tuesday afternoon. Acquired the night before from the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash considerations, the 31-year-old is in his sixth season in the majors, looking for a place to finally catch on with his career.
Lawrence has been designated for assignment before. His first club, the Colorado Rockies, put him on the waiver wire in spring training last year. The Pirates claimed him, which gave him some time to get acquainted with Twins manager Derek Shelton before Pittsburgh fired Shelton on May 8.
“I love the arm slot,” Shelton said regarding Lawrence. “It’s a different look than we have in our bullpen. It’s 97 [MPH], 98, and the sweeper is a really, really good pitch. Metrically, if you look at it, it has really good action.”
Lawrence pitched in 23 games this season with the Pirates and owned a 5.32 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 5.36 FIP, 23.6% strikeout rate, and 11.3% walk rate in 22 innings of work. The fastball averages 95.8 MPH and can top out at 98 on a good day.
“I think I’m in a better place than what you see in the stat line, mentally, physically, health-wise,” Lawrence said. “I felt like I’m in a really good spot. [In] 2024, [he] kind of struggled the entire year, but I felt like I’m in a completely different headspace. My stuff feels really good. I’m still attacking the zone. I’m always best when I’m in the zone.”
Lawrence said being designated for assignment turned out to be a ‘blessing in disguise.’ During the Pirates’ homestand last week, his family was finally able to travel from Scottsdale to Pittsburgh to see him pitch. Having his wife and kids around made up for lost time and proved a great distraction from the waiver-wire process.
“Hadn’t seen them in a couple months, so had those few days to spend with them,” he said. “Given the circumstances, it is what it is, but most importantly, is that time I got to spend with my family and children.”
The DFA process is a stressful time for players. It creates significant uncertainty about whether their future lies in the minors or majors. Many of Minnesota’s relievers have gone through the process themselves, including Anthony Banda, who’s experienced it several times through his 10-year career.
“I’ve always found it very exciting to experience new organizations, see their teachings,” Banda said. “Maybe they had something that could basically help you in the consistency of whatever it is that the problem is. There’s a lot of different scenarios, but at the end of the day, going through the DFA process is a lot better than just getting released outright.”
“Getting through that process of being DFA’d, it’s a different thing that you don’t want to ever really go through,” Lawrence said. “But it’s part of the game. It’s part of the adversity. Something I’ve had my whole career is adversity. But when I fall, I want to fall forward. This is where I landed, this is where my feet are.”
When healthy in 2025, Lawrence was on another level, pitching to a 0.51 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 33.3% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate over 17 appearances. However, an injury split his season into two halves. He pitched from Opening Day to April 22 and did not appear on the mound again until September due to right elbow inflammation that required a platelet-rich plasma injection.
Lawrence has been healthy all season. Now, it’s just a matter of seeing how his stuff can play to his advantage in the Twins organization. Shelton raved about how it was in their brief time together in Pittsburgh last year. The Twins already have a success story off the waiver wire in Yoendrys Gómez, and they’re hopeful Lawrence can become another.
“I think the biggest component to it is just going to be being on the plate,” said Shelton. “When the stuff’s on the plate, it’s really effective. We just have to minimize the walks and get him on the plate. Because when he throws strikes, he’s really good in the zone.”
“It’s baseball,” said Lawrence. “It’s the same mound. It’s sixty feet, six inches away. I’m going to pound the zone, whatever jersey’s on my chest, and right now it’s the Twins, and it’s the team I’m going to give my all to it.”
