OTTAWA – The Milwaukee Brewers signed Brett Lawrie (Langley, BC), their first round draft pick of the 2008 MLB First Year Player Draft, to his first professional contract earlier this week.
The 16th overall pick, and highest Canadian position player ever selected, signed a 1.7 million dollar signing bonus prior to heading over to Beijing for the Olympic Games.
"We are very happy for Brett and his family. He is truly a special talent and we wish him the very best as he embarks on what is surely to be a successful professional career with the Milwaukee Brewers," says Director of National Teams and Head Coach for Baseball Canada Greg Hamilton.
The Brewers would have liked to have Lawrie available to play professionally immediately after signing; however the 18-year-old’s commitment to the National Teams this season will prevent him from playing in the Brewers until he reports for the instructional league this fall. That scenario sits just fine with the Brewers.
"The [Olympic] experience for Brett is going to be a great experience. It's a chance to represent your country and you're playing against the best national teams in the world," says Brewers amateur scouting director Jack Zduriencik in an interview on Brewers.com.
Prior to joining the Olympic Team, Brett was in Edmonton for the World Junior Championship where Canada finished sixth and Lawrie took home the tournament’s triple crown, taking the top hitter award with his .469 average, hit three homers to earn the most home runs award and led all hitters with 16 RBI, earning the award for most runs driven in. He was also selected to the tournament’s World All-Star team as the catcher.
