Local baseball fans were abuzz early this Major League season when the San Francisco Giants called up Hernando High alum Christian Arroyo.
One of the first people to learn about Arroyo’s promotion was one of his best friends, an offseason roommate, former teammate and a fellow 2013 graduate. Oh, and he’s also another professional ballplayer.
Pitcher Brandon Lawson, roughly a year since being drafted out of USF by the Tampa Bay Rays, hasn’t climbed all the way up the ladder yet, but he did skip a rung when he started the season with the Advanced Single-A Charlotte Stone Crabs.
“It’s going pretty well. I’m finally getting into a groove and finding my way,” Lawson said. “I struggled at the beginning of the season, but I think that was more mental than physical, me skipping a level and facing better talent. I started to overthink situations more, but I realized I didn’t need to so I came back to my normal self.”
The 22-year-old righthander, used in a variety of roles out of the bullpen, is 1-1 with two saves and a 4.56 earned run average in 16 appearances this season, having struck out 18 batters in 23 2/3 innings. He has pitched to a 3.50 ERA after posting an 11.12 over his first three outings.
Last year after being drafted in the 12th round by the Rays, Lawson was sent to Short-Season Single-A Hudson Valley. With the Renegades, he appeared in 16 games, going 6-1 with a pair of saves and a 2.03 ERA, registering 27 strikeouts in 31 innings of work.
“It was awesome going up and playing in New York with Hudson Valley,” Lawson said. “It was a very good experience. I didn’t put too much thought into it. I didn’t know what to expect.
“Now that I’m at a higher level, I’m getting older, I’ve seen other people fighting for the same job. I want to put up good numbers and that’s what I’m trying to do this year, and just work off that.”
Back in February and March, Lawson took part in his first spring training, though mostly staying in minor-league camp. He did, however, make the travel roster for the big-league club for one contest against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, though he did not get into the game.
Nonetheless, his performance throughout camp convinced the Rays to send him to Charlotte rather than Single-A Bowling Green, where Lawson said he anticipated playing.
“I got to finally meet basically everyone in the organization, seeing a lot of new faces, making a lot of new friends,” Lawson said of spring training. “It was a very intense type of situation.
“Every baseball player dreams of getting to play with the big guys. It was good to experience it. I mingled with them and talked to them about certain situations. I just need to work on myself so that hopefully I can get to that level and stay there.”
Lawson added that he took it as a show of faith by the Rays to give him that brief glimpse of the Majors, something he has received vicariously through Arroyo. The two are currently sharing a Pasco County home with former Hernando teammate Brooks Timmons.
Lawson, Timmons and fellow ex-Leopard Andrew Zabriskie were the recipients of a group text that Arroyo sent out to inform his friends of his call-up before it had even been made public.
“It was kind of surreal, having played in high school with him and he gets drafted,” Lawson said. “A lot of people kind of doubted him, saying he was not going to be this, not going to be that, he was not going to come up for a while. For me, I see that as anything is possible as long as you work hard for it.
“There’s always competition in anything. I just want to be up there next and I’m trying to do anything I can to make that happen, so that I can put another face on the map of Brooksville along with Bronson (Arroyo), him (Christian Arroyo) and Mike Walker, and everyone else that has come through there.”
He still has a few more steps to take through the farm system before reaching that point, but so far Lawson appeared to be heading in the right direction.
“It’s just more of stop overthinking situations too much. Do what I can do, stop worrying about other things and just throw,” Lawson said. “I’ll keep working on my pitching repertoire and keep working on getting stronger and staying healthy.
“As long as I stay healthy and put up decent numbers, I should get my name called (to move up a level), maybe not this season but next season.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.