Rays’ Brandon Lowe, Jonathan Aranda named to AL team for All-Star Game

MINNEAPOLIS — Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe was talking with assistant athletic trainer Mike Sandoval last week about the different dates participants for the All-Star Game would be announced when he realized the potential for a convergence of celebrations.

Sunday was his 31st birthday.

It also was the day All-Star reserves would be named.

“Honestly, I was trying to put together when Jonny (Aranda) was going to get told that he was going to Atlanta,” Lowe explained. “Then I saw it, and I just kind of, I didn’t say anything. … It’s just one of those things. I saw it and just kind of internalized it, like, ‘All right, maybe we’ll have some pretty good birthday news.’

“And that is the case. It’s a pretty dang good birthday present.”

The day wasn’t all great, as Lowe left Sunday’s game after feeling “some discomfort” on his left side while striking out in the first inning. But he said he wasn’t concerned about being sidelined for an extended period and not being able to play in the All-Star Game.

The early exit also ended Lowe’s hitting streak at 20 games, tied with Yandy Diaz for the franchise record.

There was good news as well for Aranda, who was named to the American League squad as a reserve at first base.

“I feel very happy, very proud for everything I’ve been through,” Aranda said via team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “Being named an All-Star, it’s unbelievable.”

Both Lowe and Aranda were voted in by their peers through the players’ balloting.

Aranda, who finished third in the fan voting, behind starter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of Toronto and the Yankees’ Paul Goldschmidt, won the player polling; he had 622 votes to Guerrero’s 471. Lowe was second in the player vote, behind elected starter Gleyber Torres of the Tigers; Lowe was fourth in the fan voting, behind Torres, Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday and Houston’s Jose Altuve.

Manager Kevin Cash, who said repeatedly the Rays had a half dozen candidates worthy of consideration, shared the news of the two selections in a brief clubhouse meeting Sunday morning.

“You wanted to have representation. This team deserves to have representation. I think those two guys are just what we needed,” Cash said.

The Rays’ Jonathan Aranda hits a double during a game against the Baltimore Orioles in June in Tampa. Sunday, he was named a reserve at first base for the American League All-Star team in his first full season in the majors. [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]

Plus, Cash noted, there could be further additions leading up to the July 15 game as selected players are injured or drop out. That could bring third baseman Junior Caminero, designated hitter Yandy Diaz, and/or pitchers Ryan Pepiot and Drew Rasmussen back into the conversation.

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“A lot can happen in the next week,” Cash said. “Major League Baseball has got a tough job to do, because there’s a lot of guys that could be rewarded to be on the All-Star team. I feel like we’ve got a handful of guys that hope to get further consideration.”

Aranda, 27, has made the most of his first full season in the majors. He leads AL first basemen with a .320 average, .398 on-base percentage and .879 OPS, while hitting 10 homers and driving in 47 runs.

Having signed with the Rays as a 17-year-old in July 2015, it took Aranda seven years to reach the majors. Between inconsistent play and injuries — including a broken finger in spring 2024 that kept him from making the opening day roster — it wasn’t until this season that he got the opportunity to play every day.

“It’s too much if I look back to the past — it’s been a long journey,” Aranda said. “But now being named an All-Star, it’s something that I will always be grateful for. And I’m just going to enjoy the moment.”

Though Aranda finished behind Guerrero and Goldschmidt in the fan balloting, Rays players and staff were confident Aranda would make the team — and prepared to be outraged if he didn’t.

Aranda insisted he wasn’t concerned, though he acknowledged his wife, Milka, had been a little anxious about whether to plan for them and daughter, Regina, to be in Atlanta.

“I was just trying to keep the focus on what we are doing here. I wasn’t really paying attention to that,” he said. “Even (Saturday) night, when I went to bed, I didn’t really remember that (Sunday) they were going to announce the results.”

Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda, right, celebrates his two-run home run against the Blue Jays with Brandon Lowe during a game in May in Toronto. Both players took long journeys to this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game. [ NATHAN DENETTE | The Canadian Press via AP ]

Confident Aranda had been selected, Lowe said his intrigue continued when Cash started Sunday’s meeting by saying he “had two things to talk about.”

Lowe was added to the AL All-Star team in 2019 as a replacement for injured Tommy La Stella. But then Lowe, too, was unable to play due to a bone bruise in his right leg, sustained the night before the appointment.

Lowe, hitting .272 with 19 homers, 50 RBIs and an .811 OPS, said he looked forward to getting another chance to actually play in an All-Star Game, having had several seasons shortened by injury.

“It’s been a long journey back,” he said. “The first All-Star (selection) came back in my rookie year. So, kind of the trials that I’ve overcome to get back to this point, it’s nice to be able to say that I’m going back.”

Lowe shared an emotional FaceTime call with his wife, Madison, who was with their son, Emmett, 2 ½, and daughter, Bella, 8 months.

“To see her face light up when she got to read the (All-Star invitation) envelope, and my son screaming, ‘Congratulations!’ it’s just one of those things that kind of makes everything really worth it,” Lowe said. “You see the happiness going on there.”

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