Matt Lawton: Former Mets Outfielder (2001)

Mathew Lawton III was born on November 30, 1971, in Gulfport Mississippi. The five-foot ten left hand hitting Lawton was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the 1991 draft. 

In 1994 he hit .300 at A ball Fort Meyers & played in the Florida State League All Star Game.

As an outfielder he was rated a poor defensive player who sometimes made basic fundamental mistakes. He made the best of his abilities, hit well & got to the major leagues for brief call ups in 1995 & 1996.

MLB Career: By the 1997 season Matt was a main stay in the Twins outfield, remaining a regular for parts of five seasons. 

Lawton had some good hitting seasons with the Twins, batting over .300 twice, driving in 75 or more runs & hitting over 35 doubles twice. Unfortunately, the Twins never finished better than fourth in his seven years playing in Minnesota.

In 1998 he batted .278 with 21 HRs 36 doubles 77 RBIs & 91 runs scored with a 16 stolen bases &
a .864 OPS. Starting in 1999 the speedy outfielder stole 23 or more bases three straight years.

In 2000 Lawton had his best season with career highs in batting (.305) doubles (44) on base % (.405%) & RBIs (88). 

2000 All Star: That season he made the AL All Star Team. In the 9th inning of the game in Atlanta he had an RBI single off Trevor Hoffman bringing in the AL's fourth run in their 6-3 win.

With the Twins early success in 2001 he was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The winning didn't last, in July 2001 he was still doing well batting .293 but the Twins traded him to the New York Mets for the popular Mets pitcher Rick Reed.

Marcus Lawton

Trivia- Bat Boy: Matt had previous ties with the Mets organization. His older brother Marcus played seven minor league seasons with the Mets organization from 1983-1989. At one point Matt was his brother's team's bat boy. Marcus played ten games for the 1989 AL New York club.

Mets Career: Lawton arrived with the Mets as the reigning NL Champs were nine games under .500 (49-58) 11.5 games behind the Braves in fourth place.

Lawton his Mets debut on July 31st in an 3-2 loss in Houston. He batted second, playing right field & collected a base hit in his first Mets at bat. The next night, Lawton had two hits with an RBI & run scored in the Mets 8-2 win over the Astros.

On August 5th he hit the first of his two Mets HRs, a solo shot off Arizona's Curt Schilling. It was the only run on the 2-1 Mets loss for New York. On August 12th his HR off the Cards Darryl Kile was the only run in that Met loss as well.

On August 26th, his 7th inning double broke up a 3-3 tie in a Mets 6-5 win over the Giants. He was hitting well enough to end August at .283.

In a September series sweep over the Marlins in Florida, Lawton had six hits with three RBIs. On September 8th, he came to bat in the top of the 9th inning with the bases loaded & one out with the Mets down 7-6. He hit a two run double off Antonio Alfonseca giving the Mets the lead in what was to be their 9-7 win.

Post 911: Lawton played in the first game back after the 911 attacks, going 0-4 in the win at Pittsburgh. The next night he hit a 9th inning HR off Rich Loiselle with two hits in the 7-5 Mets win. On September 21st, he collected a hit in the game where Mike Piazza hit an 8th inning HR to win the game for New York.

Lawton would play in 48 games as a Met right fielder, as his hitting .246 with 45 hits in 183 at bats. He hit 3 HRs with 11 doubles a triple & 13 RBIs. He stole ten bases in twelve attempts posting a .352 on base % & .835 OPS.

That winter he was involved in a multi-player trade going to Cleveland with Alex Escobar in exchange for Roberto Alomar and a couple of minor leaguers.

Post Mets Career: Lawton spent three seasons in Cleveland, having his best year in 2004, batting .277 with 25 doubles 20 HRs 70 RBIs & 23 stolen bases, making his second All Star team. 

2004 All Star: In the game played at Houston's Minute Maid Park, Lawton went 1-2 with a 7th inning single off Tom Glavine. 

After his run with the Indians, he would play for the Pirates (2005) Cubs (2005) AL New York team (2005) & Mariners (2006).

Drama: In 2005 Lawton got caught up in a steroids scandal, he apologized and admitted using horse steroids.

Career Stats: He finished his 12-year career in 2006 batting .267 with 1273 hits 138 HRs 267 doubles 631 RBIs & 165 stolen bases.

Family: Matt is married to his wife Cazesta & they have two children.