Lawrie officially returns to Brewers, won’t participate in spring training

The Milwaukee Brewers officially announced Brett Lawrie’s minor-league deal on Sunday. Lawrie announced his return to the organization on Instagram about two weeks ago. The minor league deal included a team option for a second year.

According to David Stearns, Lawrie won’t participate in spring training. He simply isn’t in baseball shape after being out of Major League Baseball since 2017.

Brett’s undergone a really comprehensive performance evaluation. The plan right now is that he will spend the next six weeks here really not doing baseball activities but putting his body in the best position to succeed going forward.

It’s a long period, but we’ve got time. There’s no rush here. This is a player who hasn’t played in the major leagues for two years, and he recognizes that there’s a significant amount of work to be done before he can get back on the field, and then progress to baseball activities.

It may take a while for Lawrie to return to action, but he seems committed to making this comeback work at the age of 29. In 588 games in the majors, he is a career .261 hitter with a .315 on-base percentage, .734 OPS, 71 home runs and 253 home runs.

It’s a low-risk, high-reward move for the Brewers.

    Brewers sign INF Brett Lawrie

    2B/3B Brett Lawrie has been out of Major League Baseball since the end of the 2016 season. However, he is getting a chance to make a comeback.

    On Saturday, Lawrie announced on his Instagram page that he has signed with the team that drafted him – The Milwaukee Brewers.

    “I’m so ecstatic for this opportunity of a lifetime and I cannot thank the Brewers enough for believing in ME when no 1 else would,” Lawrie wrote in a lengthy post.

    The Brewers took Lawrie in the first round (16th) of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft.

    According to Robert Murray of The Athletic, the Brewers’ agreement with Lawrie is a minor-league deal with a club option for 2020. The potential max value of the contract is $7 million.