The Rays signed INF/OF Brandon Lowe, their 8th ranked prospect, to a six-year, $24 million deal with two club options.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – The Rays decided to lock up one of their brightest position players for the foreseeable future on Wednesday. Lowe, 24, appeared in 43 games in 2018 with the big league club. While he began his MLB career a discouraging 0-for-19, he finished as strong as any rookie in baseball with six home runs and an OPS of .884 in his final 37 games.
Lowe follows in the versatile footsteps of many players current and before him that the Rays have seemed to really enjoy and develop well in their system. In 2018 he played 24 games at second, seven games in left field, and five games in right field. This spring, he’s been getting plenty of reps at first base to add yet another glove to his arsenal. If you were to combine his total numbers between AA, AAA, and MLB it gets even more impressive. Lowe finished his entire 2018 season hitting 28 home runs, driving in 101 runs, and hitting an impressive slash of .281/.374/.530.
“We believe Brandon has the potential to make a longstanding impact at the major league level,” said Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations/General Manager Erik Neander. “He’s shown both an advanced feel for hitting and the ability to drive the ball to all fields, and he’s quickly becoming a versatile defender who can help us in many ways. With this agreement, we’re excited to cement his place in our young core for years to come.”
The deal includes two club options for 2025 and 2026, making Lowe now the Ray with the longest contract in the clubhouse. That was previously held by Kevin Kiermaier who is signed through the 2022 season with a 2023 club option.
Where’d he come from, anyway?
The Rays selected Lowe in the third round as a redshirt sophomore of the 2015 June Draft out of the University of Maryland. He enters the 2019 season ranked by Baseball America as the No. 93 overall prospect in baseball and the No. 8 prospect in the Rays system.
