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12th-rounder Lawrence embraces change

DENVER -- Right-handed pitcher Justin Lawrence, the Rockies' 12th-round pick out of Daytona State College on Wednesday on the final day of the 2015 MLB Draft, never fears change. But his biggest switch was an easy choice.

Two years ago, as a freshman at Jacksonville University, he was seeing little of the mound.

"I was a conventional right-handed pitcher, over-the-top, nothing special, and I wasn't getting very many innings" said Lawrence, 20, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. "I'm a competitor, and I said I've got to get into the game somehow. One day I was fooling around in the bullpen and dropped my arm down, and I saw the velocity and movement.