Lamb finally embracing his status as MLB's great nomad

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Nobody will blame you for losing track of Jake Lamb.

Remember Jake Lamb? The slugging, up-and-coming third baseman who was an All-Star for the D-backs in 2017? Lamb was 26 then. He’s 33 now, and he’s played continuously in the intervening years. It’s very possible you’ve seen him in a big league uniform recently, but forgotten exactly where because he’s never in one place for long.

Now Lamb’s long, winding journey has landed him in Pirates camp, where he arrived with an outside chance at swinging his way onto the roster as a bench bat. If he makes the team, the Pirates will be Lamb’s eighth team and ninth organization since September 2020, when he was designated for assignment by Arizona.

“I have a lot of different bat bags in my garage, and my wife hates it,” Lamb said after Pittsburgh’s 10-3 loss on Wednesday to the Blue Jays. “The ironic thing was I came here and knew [three people]. Personally, I didn’t really know anyone. I [kind of] laughed … I've definitely thought about that. But I’ve also stopped writing the narrative about my career. Like, ‘Oh, I’m bouncing around, I’m not having success.’ I don’t want to say I don’t care. Obviously, I want to have success. But I’m done even giving energy to that, because I’m here right now. It’s about living in the moment.”

Lamb talks like a player who learned the pitfalls of not doing that during difficult times, was humbled by hardships and emerged more mature, with a newfound perspective. Indeed, he said he's in the best place mentally he’s been in a long time, the result of “getting back to focusing on trying to win a baseball game, instead of trying to critique every swing I take that day.”

“We’re all guilty of it,” Lamb said. “In the past, I’ve gone into camps and all I’m thinking about is making the team. I’m still thinking about that. But I’m more just locked into my everyday routine. If I can be really good, if not perfect, at that routine, the results are going to show.”

On the field, Lamb’s story is of budding stardom sidetracked. A sixth-round Draft pick in 2012, Lamb debuted in 2014 and broke out two years later, earning an NL All-Star nod in 2017. He totaled 59 home runs and a .843 OPS from 2016-17, and seemed to be emerging as one of the game’s best run-producing third basemen.

But his career took a turn after that. A left rotator cuff injury contributed to a disappointing year in 2018, requiring surgery after the season. A quad strain slowed him down the following spring. Then Lamb slashed only .116/.240/.140 without a home run over the first 18 games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The D-backs designated him for assignment that September, and while he caught on immediately with the A’s, his tenure in Oakland was short-lived.

He’s bounced around ever since, constantly fighting for an opportunity. His vagrancy is left-handed reliever-level stuff. Lamb has appeared in 114 big league games over the past three seasons -- for five different teams. He’s played for seven big league teams since 2020, tied for the most of any player.

In that span, he’s been released five times, selected off waivers (once) and traded (once). It’s not easy being the most nomadic man in baseball.

“Going to Triple-A the last couple years has helped,” Lamb said. “A guy like myself, you go to Triple-A, you can hang it up. You can complain about it. You can play the victim card. I kind of did the exact opposite. I wanted to come in and work with young guys, talk hitting, and it reminded me that I know a lot about this game. I can still give a lot to this game.”

Lamb always enjoyed strong springs, and this spring is no different. And as was the case last year, it may be the difference between earning an Opening Day job or not. He’s in the mix with Pittsburgh this time around because he’s batted .346 with three doubles and a homer in 26 at-bats. His best path to the roster is as a backup to Rowdy Tellez at first base who can provide some left-handed thump off the bench.

• Projecting the Opening Day roster

“He’s definitely in the conversation,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He has eight years of big league service time. He’s a veteran. He knows how to handle himself. But how he’s swung the bat is really impressive.”