Athletes - Matt Lawton

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	Athletes - Matt Lawton

Matthew ("Matt") Lawton III (born November 3, 1971 in Gulfport, Mississippi) is a right fielder in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Seattle Mariners. Previously, he played for the Minnesota Twins (1995-2001), New York Mets (2001), Cleveland Indians (2002-04), Pittsburgh Pirates (2005),Chicago Cubs (2005)and New York Yankees (2005). He bats left-handed and throws right-handed.

In a 10-season career, Lawton is a .269 hitter with 125 home runs and 577 RBI in 1182 games.

As a leadoff batter, Lawton is among the game's most patient hitters, unafraid to take several pitches before he sees something he likes. Capable of handling almost any type of pitch, he is equally adept at pulling inside pitches or taking outside pitches the opposite way. Lawton has uncharacteristic power for a leadoff hitter, but some criticize him for being a poor runner. What prevents Lawton from joining the elite leadoff hitters in the league is his relatively poor ability (when compared to other leadoff hitters) at executing the fundamentals of baseball. Nonetheless, he is a pure Moneyball player, an on-base machine. (Lawton's career on-base percentage is .370, well above average) He is also criticized for poor defensive abilities, often performing at a level that some consider unacceptable for Major League Baseball.

Lawton blossomed in 1998, when he posted career-highs in home runs (21), doubles (36) and triples (6), hitting .278 with 91 runs. In 2000 he made the American League All-Star team, and finished the season with .305, 88 RBI and a .406 on base percentage, all career-highs.

After two injury-filled years, in 2004 Lawton played so well in the first half that he made the All-Star team for the second time in his career. After hitting .305 with 15 home runs and 49 RBI at the break, he cooled in the second half but still finished with 20 home runs, 70 RBI, a .277 average and a career-high 109 runs in 150 games.

The Indians traded Lawton to the Pirates before the 2005 season for relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes. On July 31, 2005, Lawton was traded to the Chicago Cubs for fellow outfielder Jody Gerut. On August 27 of the same year, Lawton was traded to the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Justin Berg. However, after only hitting .125 with 2 home runs, he was left off the Yankees playoff roster. This caused him to leave the team, saying that should the Yankees advance in the playoffs, he wouldn't play for them. This did not happen, and his stock is likely to fall in free agency due to this and the fact that on November 2, 2005, he became the 12th Major League Baseball player to be suspended for testing positive for steroids.

On December 22nd, 2005, Lawton signed a one year, $400,000 contract with the Seattle Mariners that could be worth as much as $1.25 million with incentives. As part of the deal, he also has a limited no trade clause. He will begin the 2006 season by serving a 10 game suspension for testing positive for steroids at the end of the 2005 baseball season, when the penalties were less severe for such an offence.

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