He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago White Sox.

[3] Although he was used primarily as a catcher for his travel club, the Langley Blaze, Lawrie transitioned to second base when he was assigned to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League to begin the 2009 season.

He was selected to play for the World Team at the 2009 MLB All-Star Futures Game at Busch Stadium in St.

Considered by many to be one of Milwaukee's top prospects, he was traded on December 6, 2010, to the Toronto Blue Jays for starting pitcher Shaun Marcum.

X-rays were negative and he was considered day-to-day, until it was later revealed by CAT scan that there was a non-displaced fracture, and he was expected to miss 2–3 weeks.

[7][8] After a brief stint in Single-A Dunedin ending with a game where he was hit by a pitch twice, Lawrie was promoted back to Triple-A Las Vegas on July 18, 2011.

In his second game at home on August 10, Lawrie recorded his first career grand slam, off of Oakland reliever Craig Breslow.

On September 5, Lawrie hit his first career walk-off home run, a solo shot in the 11th inning off reliever Dan Wheeler to defeat the Boston Red Sox 1–0.

[15] Lawrie's first season ended prematurely when, on September 21, he fractured the middle finger on his right hand while fielding during batting practice.

[16] On May 1, 2012, Lawrie hit a game-winning, walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the Blue Jays an 8–7 win against the Texas Rangers.

[21] After a 7–4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on June 2, Lawrie was present at the Toronto Eaton Centre when a shooting took place.

[34] After the emergence of Juan Francisco as a viable option for the Blue Jays, Lawrie began playing second base against right-handed starting pitchers.

[37] Lawrie was activated from the DL on August 5, and started at third base that night, but was removed from the game in the 4th inning due to back tightness.

[40] On November 28, 2014, Lawrie was traded to the Oakland Athletics, along with Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, and Franklin Barreto, for Josh Donaldson.

Lawrie avoided salary arbitration with the White Sox by agreeing to a one-year, $3.5 million contract for the 2017 season on December 3, 2016.

[52] His only appearance during Canada's brief run in the tournament came during a 6–5 loss to the United States where he pinch-ran for Joey Votto in the ninth inning.

Lawrie was named to Canada's 2013 World Baseball Classic team, and took part in two pre-tournament games against the Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds.

[53] Lawrie became engaged to UCLA and United States women's national under-20 soccer team forward Sydney Leroux, a childhood friend against whom he played in youth baseball leagues in Metro Vancouver, in October 2010.

They broke off the engagement in October 2011, during Leroux's senior year at UCLA and just before she received her first call-up to the United States women's national soccer team.