Brandon Lawson has been here before, counting down the days until the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
At some point on June 9-11, the 2013 Hernando grad hopes to receive a phone call from a big-league club and begin his professional career.
“It’s definitely a very exciting time but I’m just trying not to worry about it so much,” Lawson said. “I’m anxious to see what happens. I’ve worked hard for this time to come and I hope to make my dreams come true. I hope it works out, but if not I’ll go back to college and play ball to the best of my ability, and hopefully it works out next year.”
Three years ago, Lawson was coming off a stellar two-year run with the Leopards, during which he played a pivotal role in the team advancing to back-to-back regional finals. Over those two seasons, he went 19-3 with a 1.03 earned run average, striking out 228 batters across 149.2 innings.
Following his senior campaign, Lawson said he was contacted by the New York Mets, informing him of their intention to select him in the 17th round of the draft. He declined, opting to attend the University of South Florida.
As a freshman he appeared in 16 games, starting nine, posting a 3-1 mark and 3.74 ERA. Over 15 games, seven starts, in his sophomore year, he struggled to a 1-3 record and 6.35 ERA.
“I took the past two years of college and worked on everything,” Lawson said. “I went to summer ball last year and took that into this year. I became more of a pitcher than a thrower.
“Last year I struggled a lot with command and stuff. My velocity is getting there. This year I was in the 90-94-mile-per-hour range. I was able to spot up this past year. Stay low in the zone, able to get a lot of strikeouts and groundouts.”
Though he began this season as a middle reliever, he quickly evolved into the Bulls’ Saturday starter. He went 5-5, but had a 2.50 ERA, making 14 starts in his 15 appearances. He also whiffed 111 over 101 innings, and was an All-American Athletic Conference second team selection.
“As far as the season went, we were a very young team. We dealt with a lot of injuries. Seven of the nine regular players were all freshmen,” Lawson said. “It was an up and down year, a learning year for the whole team, especially for myself.
“It’s been a very big difference than high school was. Obviously the talent is a lot better. It took me a couple of years. This was the first year it really clicked for me. Things went my way pitching-wise.
“You’ve got to be more mentally prepared than in high school. In high school, you’re able to blow people away with fastballs. In college, you’ve got to be able to pitch to people.”
Still, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound right-hander’s fastball has improved from the high 80s with Hernando to the low 90s, a product of growing stronger and getting his arm in better shape. That figures to make him more attractive to MLB teams, and Lawson said he has heard from 20 of them.
Just the past two weeks, Lawson worked out for the Miami Marlins, New York Yankees and the Mets. On Monday, he’ll pitch in front of evaluators from the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I’m hearing good things. I’m hearing top 10 rounds,” Lawson said. “You can’t say what round you’re going until draft day, until the call comes. It could go better than you expect, it could take a turn for the worst. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and wait for next weekend.
“I think I’m ready to play baseball at a professional level. I’ve got to see what the offer is and see if it’s worth skipping my last year of college.”
Regardless, Lawson said he’s only six classes short of earning his degree in criminology. He intends to graduate on time, even if he’s forced to take the remaining courses online.
With that in mind, he indicated the decision of whether to go pro won’t weigh nearly as heavy on his mind this time. It’s just a matter of seeing how things unfold when the draft rolls around.
“It’ll definitely be an emotional day and probably the best day of my life if it actually happens,” Lawson said. “I’m definitely excited to see what the future holds for me.”
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.