The Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a deal that actually surprised Marc Topkin, the man with a Twitter biography that states he has covered the team “since, well, forever.”
“I remember asking Kevin Cash a few weeks ago, ‘Is Brandon Lowe going to make the team or not?’” Topkin tells me with a laugh. “Obviously, he is going to make the team. He is going to play quite a bit. He is going to play a little bit at first, a little bit at second, a little bit in the outfield, DH a little bit but, for the Rays to make this type of commitment, they obviously believe in him as a player and they obviously believe in him as a person.”
Lowe signed a contract to remain with the team through 2024 with options for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. He will earn $24 million in six seasons with the ability to earn $45 million in eight seasons.
“We believe Brandon has the potential to make a longstanding impact at the major league level,” says Erik Neander, the senior vice president of baseball operations and the general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. “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. Brandon’s development, both offensively and defensively, is a testament to his commitment to his craft and a credit to all of our staff who have scouted, coached, and worked with him. With this agreement, we’re excited to cement his place in our young core for years to come.”
If you have not heard of Lowe, you should prepare to hear of him more and more frequently. He was born in Virginia and he attended the University of Maryland. The Rays selected him as a redshirt sophomore in the third round of the 2015 June Draft. He made his MLB debut with the Rays last season appearing in 43 games. He hit .233 during that stint but he has improved his batting average to .359 in 13 games this spring.
Topkin says it will be challenging to mispronounce his name now. You simply need to remember “LOWE” as in “WOW, he is now a multimillion dollar man!”
