Lawrie finds home at second base with Chicago White Sox

When the Chicago White Sox acquired Brett Lawrie in a Dec. 9 trade from Oakland, he initially slotted in as their starting third baseman.

One week later, when the Sox landed Todd Frazier from Cincinnati in a three-way deal, Lawrie was the second baseman.

Considering he's been traded twice in two years and three times since Milwaukee drafted him on the first round (No. 16 overall) in 2008, moving from one side of the infield to there other is no sweat.

"Whatever opportunity presents itself … fortunately enough, I get to go out and play second base," Lawrie said. "Just worry about second base, I don't have to worry about going anywhere else but there. That's a big thing for me, being able to go out there every day and play one position."

With the A's last season, Lawrie played 109 games and third base and made 18 errors. He was better in the 42 games he played at second, where he made 6 errors.

Carlos Sanchez replaced Micah Johnson at second base for the White Sox in May of last season and he played stellar defense, committing just 5 errors in 117 games.

Expected to carry his weight with the bat as well after hitting .292 in four-plus minor-league seasons, Sanchez slipped with the Sox and posted a .224/.268/.326 hitting line with 5 home runs and 31 RBI.

Lawrie slashed .260/.299/.407 with 16 home runs and 60 RBI for Oakland and still has room to improve at age 26.

"There was a lot of ground (in Oakland)," Lawrie said. "But at the same time, you've just got to hit the ball hard. If you hit the ball hard, there's not really much anybody can do. You come over to Chicago, it's a big ballpark but the wind blows here and there."

A very quiet wind blew through the White Sox' clubhouse much of last season, but Lawrie, Frazier and new catchers Alex Avila and Dioner Navarro bring some outgoing personalities.

"It's something I've always had," Lawrie said. "I have a little Canadian fire, I guess you could say, hockey player mentality. It's something that I've always had since growing up in British Columbia, no doubt."

Tyler Saladino entered spring training as the Sox' starting shortstop, but he looks to be the utility infielder now that veteran Jimmy Rollins is in camp.

Saladino is Lawrie's likely backup at second base, but Sanchez is also competing for the utility job this spring.

• Follow Scot's reports on Twitter@scotgregor.

• Third in a series analyzing each position on the roster.

Scot Gregor ranks the top American League second basemen:

1. Robinson Cano, Mariners

2. Jose Altuve, Astros

3. Ian Kinsler, Tigers

10. Brett Lawrie, WHITE SOX