The Rockaway Wave
Originally Published July 26, 2024
On June 11 in Hudson Valley, Justin Lawson surrendered four earned runs in 2⁄3 of an inning. It was the seventh outing in a row Lawson gave up at least one earned run, bringing his season ERA up to 4.50.
Before that stretch, Lawson was cruising. In his first eight games of 2024, he had given up just one earned run in 15 and 1⁄3 innings, a 0.59 ERA. One month later, it was almost four runs higher.
“I had a rough period where I was just kind of struggling a little bit to find the strike zone,” Lawson said. “Then I had a conversation with Dan [McKinney], me and him just sat down and just talked strengths that I have versus the batters that I’m facing, and just trying to attack those and stay on those pitches and in those counts. I think it’s led to a lot of success, just being in the zone.”
McKinney, Brooklyn’s pitching coach, said when Lawson initially struggled they didn’t want to overreact because he had been so good up until that point. As the struggles continued though, they took a deeper dive into why.
A few things stood out, he said. Lawson had some delivery changes that occurred unintentionally, which they spent some time correcting. They looked at his heat maps and found that where he was locating his slider, and his overall zone percentages, had regressed a little bit.
Then, they looked at a new pitch.
“It was kind of Justin’s idea actually,” McKinney said. “He had been toying with the sweeper in the throwing program and felt like that could be a good weapon for him. So we were able to get him some mound touches so he could kind of work on all those things. It wasn’t immediate, which I know was a little mentally frustrating for him, but he stuck with it, stayed true to his process, and he started stacking good outings on top of each other.”
McKinney said the first time Lawson broke out the new sweeper was in a game away in Hudson Valley, the second-to-last of a series that began with his four-run blow-up. In that game, Lawson went three scoreless and hitless innings, giving up just one walk and punching out three. One of those strikeouts, McKinney said, was on a backdoor sweeper to a lefty in a key spot.
That scoreless outing kicked off what turned out to be a strong stretch for Lawson. Over his last eight appearances, Lawson had given up just two earned runs over 16 and 2⁄3 innings, bringing his season ERA back down to 3.22.
“It’s a good reminder for honestly all of our guys, even when you’re going really good, you never know when you’re gonna hit a rough patch,” McKinney said. “Just making sure you have a process in place to stay true to your strengths and who you are, and know that you’re gonna come out the other side.”
Cyclones manager Gilbert Gómez said he thought Lawson hit a bit of a wall mid-season — as a lot of players do in their first year of full-season minor league ball — and has managed to push past it.
“He’s been great,” Gómez said. “I feel like now he’s another guy that’s understanding ways to stay strong with nutrition, body movements, lifting weights and having a set routine. He’s looking great, he’s looking sharp.”
Lawson credited his turnaround to being in the zone. He surrendered nine walks and two hit-by-pitches in his seven-game rough patch, as opposed to just 11 walks in his other 16 games.
A right-handed pitcher, Lawson features both a four-seam fastball and a two-seam fastball. McKinney said he will primarily use the four-seam versus lefties and will use both versus righties. His fastball usually sits around 92-to-93 mph. He also has a shorter slider to go along with the aforementioned sweeper and rounds out his pitch mix with a changeup.
The changeup is the pitch that was highlighted by his manager.
“That changeup plays,” Gómez said. “A lot of ground balls, he’s able to pitch to both sides of the plate. I think he’s an intriguing guy for sure.”
Lawson said he’s most confident in his slider, which has been his go-to pitch all his life. He’s confident throwing it whenever, in whatever count, and has all his other pitches play off of that.
McKinney said there’s a lot to like about what he brings to the table.
“He’s a strike thrower,” McKinney said. “He’s a guy who always wants the ball. He spins it really well. He’s a guy that can throw 3-0 sliders. He’s a guy that has a really high soft strike percentage. He’s got weapons that can play against both hands and he’s super reliable and dependable. He’s got a good frame, good strong competitor.”
He has been used as Brooklyn’s closer at times this season, going a perfect 6-for-6 in save opportunities.
“I’m a guy that I love opportunity, I love the adrenaline rush of the save situations,” Lawson said. “Any time I’m blessed enough to have those opportunities, I’ve tried to just use the momentum that I have in this moment to my advantage. I love it.”
Lawson spent two years at Bossier Parish Community College before transferring to NC State. He threw 90 innings with a 3.50 ERA for the Wolfpack, mostly out of the pen. The Mets selected him in the 15th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, and he chose to sign even though he had a year of NCAA eligibility left.
“It was a tough process because I loved Raleigh a lot, I really wanted to go back,” Lawson said. “They went to Omaha this year, that would have been fun to compete in. But it’s always been a lifetime goal of mine to play Major League Baseball, so whenever I got the opportunity I just couldn’t pass it up.”
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