The Tampa Bay Rays were finally able to snap their seven-game losing streak at home on Friday night with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Scoring has been an issue for the Rays this year, and their wins have come mostly on the backs of their pitching and defense.
One player who has failed to get things going at the plate in quite some time is second baseman Brandon Lowe. After 2021, the veteran was coming off of two seasons where he combined to hit .253/.346/.532 with 53 home runs, 136 RBI and a 143 OPS+ across 839 plate appearances in 205 games. Since then, he has not been the same.
From 2022 through Friday’s ball game, Lowe has batted just .230/.309/.427 with 55 home runs, 169 RBI and a 107 OPS+ across 1,267 plate appearances in 315 games. After tallying 7.0 bWAR between 2020 and 2021, he has been worth just 5.5 bWAR in four seasons since.
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Making matter worse is the Rays have a club option for Lowe next season. He could be a free agent after 2025.
Injuries have plagued the second baseman. His single-season high for games played since the start of 2022 sits at only 109. He is on pace to top that this year, however, to this point it has been the worst season of his career.
Through 35 games this year, Lowe has batted just .200/.250/.323 with five home runs, 18 RBI and a 64 OPS+ across 140 plate appearances. While it is still early, should he finish the year with an OPS+ sub-100, it will be the first campaign he has done so in his career.
Lowe hit his fifth home run of the year in Friday’s win over the Brewers. It could be the catalyst to turning his season around, but as it stands, the 2020-21 stretch may be an outlier for the second baseman in the midst of a contract year.