Jed Lowrie Profile

It wasn't supposed to be this way. When the Red Sox drafted Lowrie in the first round in '05, they saw Dustin Pedroia Redux. They saw the same kind of low-risk middle infielder who could hit enough to be a solid starter in the Majors. Things looked good after his first season, one where he demolished the New York-Penn League after being drafted. Then again, he was an advanced college player from Stanford. He SHOULD have been demolishing kids in the NYP. 2006 was a hard full season debut though.

Now I know that Wilmington is about the hardest place in the minors to hit a home run, but a .374 slugging percentage? I like the walk rate, but he's going to have to either pick up the batting average or the power stroke or else he's going to be J.J. Furmaniak instead of Michael Young. I don't think it's out of the question for Lowrie to rebound from this. He did hit very well at Stanford and posted a .429 OBP Lowell after being drafted. The K/BB is also acceptable. In fact the walk rate is particularly good. He also has no perceivable platoon split, which is nice for a switch hitter. It also bears mentioning that his second half numbers were much, much better than his first half stats. Pre All Star: .224/.333/.293, Post: .286/.364/.427. That post ASB line looks like a natural progression from his NYP stats

Lowrie isn't going to be a base stealer, but he's not Ben Molina out there. He has some work to do defensively and he's never going to have a ton of range, but scouts think he's fundamentally sound and he'll be competent at either spot up the middle.

For upside here, look for David Eckstein without the hyperbolic media affection. Heck, PECOTA already thinks he's that kind of ballplayer, projecting a .279/.341/.397 weighted mean for him this season.