This year we’ll be releasing our top 25 list in conjunction with the people over at Bernie’s Crew, which means the list is going to posted somewhat out of order to match up with what Jim has for his Top 25. An up-to-date list of the Between the Green Pillars Top 25 can be found at the bottom of the page.

Brett Lawrie / C / 6’0” 190 LBS / 1/18/90

Brett Lawrie was a fitting for former scouting director Jack Zduriencik’s final #1 overall selection for a lot of reasons. He’s Canadian and the Brewers have scouted and drafted in Canada more extensively than most other clubs in recent years. He’s also a guy drafted for his bat and with definite question marks about where and how he’ll play defensively, another recurring theme under Zduriencik. The consensus opinion is that Lawrie is going to hit, but there are major concerns about his ability to stay behind the plate, which would obviously give him his highest potential value as a hitter because catchers who can hit are so rare.

While Lawrie has yet to take the field as a pro, he has more of a track record than your standard high school draftee. For one, he’s played with the Canadian national junior team since the age of 15 and has faced professional Dominican pitchers on three separate trips down there. His last trip to the DR last summer, he hit 8 homers and hit them to all parts of the park. Lawrie played for Team Canada in the 2008 Summer Olympics, and while he didn’t have an impressive showing just that fact that they though enough of him as a high school player to put on the team says something.

One of the upsides of his playing so much with the national teams is the fact that it gave scouts ample opportunity to see him swing a wood bat, something they don’t often get to see a high school kid do. He has a very strong hands and a quick bat, which has led to projections of him as a potential “plus-plus power” guy. There are concerns that he is too pull happy at this point in his development, which is something the Brewers will have to watch and address this season. Details on his plate discipline have been hard to come by, so judging that is going to have to wait until we see some numbers going forward.

As much confidence as there is in Lawrie’s ability to hit professional hitting, there are serious doubts about where he’ll be able to play. He possesses the physical tools to play catcher (strong arm, quick feet, athletic body) but is so raw back there that it’s hard to say with any certainty that he can stick. If he can’t, he’ll probably end up at one of the corner positions. Third or right would probably be the first possibilities, though there has even been some talk of moving him to second base. The problem with trying to give him the time to show his skills at catcher is the strong possibility that his bat will push him too fast to develop as a receiver and the team will have to give up on him faster than they would like behind the plate.

For his part, Lawrie expects to move quickly. He’s told multiple sources that he expects to be in the minors for a “year and a half” which would put him in the majors before the end of the 2010 season at the age of 20. To do that, he will have to absolutely kill the ball and establish a position with amazing speed. Obviously, Lawrie doesn’t lack confidence in Lawrie, which is something that also comes through in every interview he’s given. He has the skills to suggest that it’s not all empty boasting and that he can back it up, but we’ll just have to wait for spring to see just what he can do. The Brewers may elect to send him to extended spring training and possibly even to Pioneer league when it opens play in June, but if he’s going to move as fast as he thinks he can, he’ll be seeing Appleton before mid summer. If Lawrie shows he can hit pro pitching and play a passable catcher, expect to see him near or at the top of this list next year.

Between the Green Pillars Top 25 Prospects:

# 25: Evan Frederickson

# 24: Cody Adams

#23: Alex Periard

#22: Brent Brewer

#21: Brad Nelson

#20: RJ Seidel

#19: Tim Dillard

# 18: Seth Lintz

# 17: Efrain Nieves

#16: Erik Komatsu

#14: Omar Aguilar

#13: Cutter Dykstra

#12: Zach Braddock

#11: Caleb Gindl

#10: Jake Odorizzi

#9: Cole Gillespie

#8: Lorenzo Cain