Justin Lawrence dropped his arm slot — and raised his odds.
Before Lawrence was a flame-throwing sidearmer in the Rockies’ bullpen, he was just another right-handed reliever at Jacksonville University. That’s when he had a career-changing realization.
“I realized that if I was going to get to the big leagues, it was going to be a different route for me,” Lawrence said. “I was (already) going from being a position player to being a pitcher, and then I dropped down my arm slot. That was a big change.”
Lawrence’s professional stock took off from there, but not before his progress was derailed by a positive test for PEDs that resulted in an 80-game suspension in 2020.