Brandon Lowe

Brandon Norman Lowe (/laʊ/; born July 6, 1994) is an American professional baseball second baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Brandon Lowe
Lowe at the 2019 MLB All-Star Red Carpet Parade in Cleveland
Tampa Bay Rays – No. 8
Second baseman
Born: (1994-07-06) July 6, 1994
Newport News, Virginia
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 5, 2018, for the Tampa Bay Rays
MLB statistics
(through August 13, 2020)
Batting average.266
Home runs28
Runs batted in92
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

Lowe attended Nansemond River High School in Suffolk, Virginia, where he played on the school's baseball team. He led Nansemond to a district championship as a junior and a district title as a senior, he was also named first-team all-state, first-team all-region, and first-team all-district that year.[1] He committed to University of Maryland, College Park to play college baseball for the Maryland Terrapins.[2] Two days before the first game of his freshman year, Lowe tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, which caused him to be redshirted and miss the entire season.[3] In his redshirt freshman season, Lowe was named third-team all-ACC after leading the Maryland Terrapins in batting average (.348), on-base percentage (.464) and slugging percentage (.464).[4] In his sophomore season, Lowe led the Terrapins in hits, walks, runs, and doubles, as well as finishing second in runs batted in. Two days before the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, Lowe suffered a broken fibula as the Terrapins lost to the Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA super regional.[5]

Professional career

Minor leagues

Despite the injury, Lowe was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the third round of the draft.[6][7] He recovered from the injury and made his professional debut in 2016 with the Bowling Green Hot Rods and spent the whole season there, batting .248 with five home runs and 42 RBIs in 107 games.

Lowe started 2017 with the Charlotte Stone Crabs and was promoted to the Montgomery Biscuits during the season. With Charlotte he hit .311/.403/.524 with nine home runs and 46 RBIs in 90 games and was named the MVP of the Florida State League.[8] With the Montgomery Biscuits, he slashed .253/.270/.389 in 23 games. After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League and was selected to play in the Fall Stars Game.[9] Lowe began the 2018 season with the Biscuits and also played for the Durham Bulls of the Class AAA International League. Lowe was named to the 2018 MLB Pipeline second team of the year after hitting .297/.391/.558 with 22 home runs in 380 at bats.[10]

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays promoted Lowe to the major leagues on August 4, 2018.[11] After a slow start, Lowe recorded his first big league hit on August 15 and hit his first big league home run on August 28.[12][13] Lowe ended the season slashing .233/.324/.450 with six home runs and 25 runs batted in over 148 plate appearances.[14]

On March 20, 2019, Lowe signed a six-year contract extension, with two options, with the Rays for a reported $24 million guaranteed.[15] On April 12, 2019 Lowe went 2-for-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays recording his first multi homer game of his career.[16] On July 3, 2019, Lowe was named as a reserve for the 2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, although a shin injury he sustained in a game against the Baltimore Orioles meant he did not see playing time.[17] On August 21, Lowe suffered a left quad strain while rehabbing with Durham, but he returned to the majors on September 22.

Lowe finished the 2019 season hitting .270/.336/.514 with 17 home runs and 51 RBIs in 82 games. He finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting.[18]

Personal life

Lowe is married to former Maryland college softball player Madison Martin.[19] The two met in college when they were both student athletes at the University of Maryland.[20]

gollark: That's generally just called "negative externalities".
gollark: Governments are especially bad because you don't really get alternatives for a given area.
gollark: I support somewhat government-regulated capitalismism.
gollark: Oh, or you could read cyberpunk novels.
gollark: Maybe... what is it again, Austrian economists? They say things.

References
  1. "University of Maryland Athletics". umterps.com. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  2. Robinson, Tom. "A new high for Lowe at Maryland". PilotOnline.com. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  3. Wood, Norm. "Suffolk's Brandon Lowe recovers from knee injury to become Maryland's top bat". dailypress.com. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  4. "University of Maryland Athletics". umterps.com. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
  5. mcompton@bgdailynews.com, MICHEAL COMPTON. "Lowe happy to be back on the field". BGDailyNews.com. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  6. "Rays select Maryland 2B Brandon Lowe at No. 87". Major League Baseball. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  7. Stubbs, Roman (June 9, 2015). "Maryland's Brandon Lowe selected by Tampa Bay Rays in third round of MLB draft". Retrieved November 6, 2017 – via www.WashingtonPost.com.
  8. "Rays' Lowe named Florida State League MVP". MiLB.com. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  9. "Tampa Bay Rays' Arizona Fall League overview". Tampa Bay Rays. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  10. "2018 Pipeline's Prospect Team of the Year". MLB.com. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  11. "For starters: Rays vs. White Sox, with Blake Snell back on the mound, Brandon Lowe called up". 4 August 2018.
  12. "Tampa Bay Rays 6, New York Yankees 1". FOX Sports. 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  13. "Marc Topkin on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  14. "Brandon Lowe Stats | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  15. "Rays Extend Brandon Lowe". mlbtraderumors.com. March 20, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  16. "Rays' Brandon Lowe: Goes deep twice". CBS Sports. April 12, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  17. "Rays Brandon Lowe named to AL All-Star team, but will he be able to play?". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  18. Toribio, Juan (November 11, 2019). "Lowe finishes third in AL Rookie of Year voting". MLB.com. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  19. Topkin, Marc (March 9, 2019). "Rays Journal: Another wow blast by Brandon Lowe". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
  20. "Brandon Lowe & Madison Lowe rake". The Ray Tank. March 9, 2019. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
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