Lawhorn brothers beat the odds and now are Potomac teammates

By Robert Daski

Published: August 7, 2008

They played baseball together in little league, high school, college and in spring training in 2006.
But what were the chances of twin brothers Darryl and Trevor Lawhorn being teammates with the Potomac Nationals?
“The odds aren’t that good,” Darryl said.
Darryl joined Trevor at Potomac when the Oakland Athletics felt Darryl was no longer in their future plans.
They have split time as Potomac’s third basemen and Trevor plays designated hitter.
“It’s fun,” being teammates, Trevor said.
The twins began showing an interest in baseball at age two. Their father Randy threw to them underhanded in the family’s backyard to teach them the aspect of receiving. He also built a batting cage in the backyard for his sons to practice their hitting and coached them from tee ball until they reached high school.
Darryl and Trevor starred at New Hanover High School in Wilmington, N.C. where Darryl was an all-state pitcher and Trevor an all-state catcher before becoming a pitcher as a senior.
“That was the sport we played all the time and got decently good at,” Trevor said.
Darryl’s skills so impressed then-East Carolina University coach Keith LeClair, who offered him a scholarship during his personal tryout, a gesture that irked Trevor.
“I was mad about that,” Trevor said.
Having not received an offer, Trevor spent his freshman year at Division II Barton College before joining Darryl at ECU the following year. But Trevor sat out his sophomore year and redshirted after Barton’s coach would not release him from his commitment.
In 2004, the twins played together at ECU, helping the program win a school-record 50 games and play in a super regional.
Little did they know their pro careers would go the way they have.
The Diamondbacks drafted Darryl in the 11th round, but a broken right foot sidelined him for his rookie-ball season. He reported to spring training the following year, but re-broke the same bone in his foot and the Diamondbacks released him.
He signed with the Reds in January 2006 and entered spring training competing with Trevor for a second base job. But Darryl fractured his left tibia running the bases, went on the disabled list and was released.
He signed with the Kansas City T-Bones, an independent league club and played 47 games for them, hitting .259 with seven home runs and 24 RBI.
The T-Bones traded him to the Northern League’s Fargo Red Hawks where he played at the beginning of last year before the Athletics purchased his contract and assigned him to Stockton of the High-A California League.
Once Oakland released Darryl, the Washington Nationals signed him.
Darryl’s objective is to help Potomac’s offense build on its Carolina League-leading .270 average. After hitting .272 with eight home runs and 39 RBI for Stockton, he is struggling at a .188 clip.
“I’ve put up good numbers so far and I’m thinking they picked me up because they know I can hit,” said Darryl, older than Trevor by two minutes. “Hopefully I’ll help them out as much as possible.”
Trevor’s path to Potomac has had several stops. The Reds chose him in the ninth round of the 2004 draft. He spent two years in the Reds system before being traded to the Blue Jays in 2006 in a deal for pitcher Scott Schoeneweis.
But the Blue Jays had no openings for him, so Trevor was released. He signed with the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association, an independent league and played there during the 2006 season.
“When you’re involved in a trade for a big league player, it means they want you and they’re going to keep you around and see what you can do,” Trevor said. “It just so happened that it didn’t work out for me with the Blue Jays. That’s when it gets hard because you don’t have any value.”
Trevor seemed ready to reestablish himself with a major league organization when the Mariners signed him from Sioux Falls last May. Assigned to the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Trevor hit .252 with three home runs and 20 RBI before Seattle released him.
Trevor returned to Sioux Falls before Washington signed him in August. He spent the remainder of 2007 at Low-A Hagerstown and returned to the Suns to begin the 2008 season prior to his promotion to Potomac.
He is hitting .245 with six home runs and 23 RBI and had the game-winning hit in the Nationals’ 8-7 12-inning win over Winston-Salem on July 31.
“All I want to do is go out there and produce like I know I can and help the team win,” Trevor said. “So far I think I’ve been doing a good job of getting good pitches to hit and getting runs in.”
Family friend Mike Clontz monitors their development. He maintains http://www.lawhornbaseball.com, a website filled with pictures from where the twins have played in their pro careers and their college and pro honors.
“It’s nice to see something like that out there for friends and family that like to keep up with that stuff,” Darryl said.
If Darryl and Trevor advance beyond High-A, Clontz will have more photos to put on the site.