What Is the Diamondbacks’ Plan for Jordan Lawlar?

When the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Jordan Lawlar sixth overall in the 2021 draft, they envisioned their shortstop of the future. Lawlar quickly became the Diamondbacks’ top prospect, hitting his way through the minors and reaching Double-A at only 20 years old.

The results were promising, yet unspectacular. Which wasn’t too much of a concern for a player of his age seeing upper minors pitching for the first time. Lawlar was given a brief opportunity in the majors, at 20 years old, and looked lost.

Then, injuries struck and limited him to only 23 games in 2024. This coincided with the rise of Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, who inked an extension to become a fixture at short for years to come.

Lawlar’s future position was suddenly looking like it would either be second or third. He had a brief stint with the D-Backs early in the season that was a complete disaster, striking out in nine of his 22 plate appearances. Once Euengio Suarez was traded, Lawlar had another chance to prove himself.

Although the .851 OPS looked good on the surface, many of the same issues with pitch recognition and swing-and-miss were still lingering.

Lawlar’s Struggles and Flashes in 2025

If you are a Diamondbacks fan, you saw how egregious Lawlar’s short stint was in 2025. The .182/.257/.288 slash with no home runs and a 52 wRC+ only tells part of the story. You don’t have to have a trained eye to see how overmatched he looked.

Pitchers were feeding him breaking balls, and Lawlar was swinging through everything. A 43% whiff rate on movement paired with a 53.8% whiff rate on off-speed pitches resulted in a 35% strikeout rate. Righty, lefty, it didn’t matter — Lawlar was drowning in the deep end.

He returned to the minors before rejoining the team in August to help fill the hole created by the Suarez trade. We finally saw some flashes of what could make Lawlar a productive big leaguer, as he started to make slightly more, and louder, contact.

In September, Lawlar slashed .308/.3.64/.851 with all seven of his extra-base hits on the season (all doubles). Across those 39 at-bats, Lawlar had seven batted balls of over 100 mph, showing the type of impact he is capable of making.

Driving the ball into the gap and jumping on fastballs and pulling them to left field was a slight we did not see in his first short stints in the majors. But, we also saw the issues that plagued him during those stints also.

The issues with movement continued, as sliders and curveballs gave Lawlar fits both from righties and lefties. I’m not sure what his plan was at the plate. but pitchers quickly realized that feeding him breaking balls would neutralize this best abilities.

Of course, this is common with young players and does not mean that Lawlar, with more time on task, cannot flourish into a productive big leaguer. We are talking about a tiny sample size that still included enough promise to give him a longer leash and legitimate run in 2026.

The question will become how long of a leash do they give him?

Arizona has aspirations of being a playoff team and needs to have a plan A, B, and C with Lawlar. They cannot simply give him 300 at-bats no matter what the results are, hoping that the experience helps him for the future. Arizona needs major leaguers helping a team win.

Would it surprise me if Lawlar was a plus player in 2026? Not at all. He’s an uber-talented 23-year-old with barely over 100 plate appearances at the major-league level. The power potential paired with elite speed is not something you right off quickly.

Let’s say the bat comes around and it makes sense for him to be on the roster, that is the first problem solved. But the next problem is finding where to play him.

Where Lawlar Fits in the Field

The obvious answer would be third base. Trading away Suarez created a natural opening at third, and with Perdomo at short, the puzzle piece fits. The only issues is Lawlar struggled defensively at third to the extent that the D-Backs have to have a pivot play in mind.

Fielding his position at third was less than ideal. Again, small sample, but he had a success rate of 70% with an estimated success rate of 79% while also making throws to first look like the most difficult task he’s ever encountered, racking up three throwing errors in only 24 chances.

With Ketel Marte’s name being floated in trade rumors, second base could be an option as well. We saw Lawlar play five games at second last season, but he also committed two errors with poor metrics.

Defense has been an issue throughout his minor-league career, albeit most of his play was at short. Although I think it is too early to drastically change his path considering how few reps he has at third and second, we did see him appear in center field in the Dominican Winter League this offseason.

I actually like this idea long-term. His athletic ability and speed would translate, on the surface, to potentially being a plus center fielder. The Diamondbacks would welcome an upgrade over Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy, and creating that upgrade from within would be ideal.

The situation is pretty similar to what we saw with Noelvi Marte in Cincinnati. He’s a young player who struggled at third and was shifted to the outfield in hopes of maximizing his speed. Learning the angles and tracking the ball off the bat will take reps, but it is a transition players with Lawlar’s ability are able to make.

The uncertainty of where Lawlar will, or could, play is a bit unfair for a young player who needs an offseason to focus on his defense, but that’s the situation he is in. Ultimately, I think Lawlar will have his first opportunities back at third base, but a switch could happen quickly if improvement is not shown.

Final Thoughts

The Diamondbacks are in a transition of sorts starting with last year’s deadline. Suarez, Gallen, Naylor, and potentially Marte departing in the span of eight months would be significant. They are not rebuilding by any means, but several familiar faces are now elsewhere, and filling some of those holes will need to come from within.

Lawlar has the raw ability to be the answer to some of the Diamondbacks’ biggest questions. He’ll be given the opportunity to cement himself as a regular, but he still needs to show he’s worth of that title.