Healthy Lowe eager to resume bolstering Rays' offense

For all of the question marks surrounding the Rays’ offense, their biggest addition at the plate in 2023 may come from a familiar face.

Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, who was coming off a career-year in 2021, only played in 65 games in '22 due to a stress reaction in his lower back.

“We were not gonna find a better left-handed bat than Brandon Lowe, a healthy Brandon Lowe, in the reality of it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Certainly there were good guys out there, but we know Brandon well and what he’s done in his first couple years in the big leagues.”

Lowe was shut down on Sept. 24, 2022. He said he swung a bat for the first time on Jan. 1 as he recovered from the injury.

“I feel really good,” Lowe said. “Probably the best that I felt coming into Spring Training in the past couple years, so I’m excited to see kind of how everything responds.”

Cash was pleased with how Lowe looked when the second baseman took batting practice on Sunday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

• What to watch at Rays camp

This isn't the first time injuries have posed a problem for Lowe. In 2019, his rookie season, issues with his right shin and left quad held him to 82 games. The slugging lefty batted .270 with 17 home runs and 51 RBIs that year.

In his first full season in 2021, Lowe became a household name, slugging 39 home runs with 99 RBIs and posting an on-base percentage of .340.

Lowe was one of many Rays players to be riddled with injuries in 2022. Tyler Glasnow missed most of the season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and only made two starts, while dynamic shortstop Wander Franco only played in 83 games after suffering multiple injuries during the season.

“You’re mindful of where he’s sitting,” Cash said of Lowe. “You’re mindful of where Wander is sitting, Randy [Arozarena], we got a lot of guys I think can lengthen and change approaches.”

Despite having 61 players make appearances last season, the Rays still went 86-76 to secure a postseason spot. But their season ended in heartbreak, as they were swept by the Guardians in the AL Wild Card Series.

“I’m an extremely competitive person,“ Lowe said. “Everyone in this locker room is. Nobody wants to sit down and watch your team, watch your brothers, go through battle without being able to be there to help at all. To be on the sidelines and watch it all happen was horrible.”

For Lowe, his biggest addition of the offseason was his first child, Emmett Lowe.

Lowe and his wife, Madison, started trying to have a kid three years ago. After a strenuous process in which she had to undergo in vitro fertilization, Madison gave birth to Emmett on Jan. 23.

“It’s terrifying when the baby comes out, because you don’t know what’s gonna happen,” Brandon Lowe said. “But when [I] heard the first cry, I broke. Shattered everything that I was ever thinking about. A couple of tears down my face, it was an incredible moment.”

Thompson and Poche comment on arb cases

Tampa Bay won its arbitration cases against relievers Colin Poche and Ryan Thompson on Saturday, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

Poche will make $1.175 million (the player filed at $1.3 million), and Thompson is set to make $1 million after filing for $1.2 million. Despite how tough the arbitration process can be, neither player had an issue with the Rays.

“Everything was above board,” Poche said. “They didn’t take any low blows or anything like that. They stuck strictly to baseball facts. A lot of people come out of their hearings upset, but my experience wasn’t like that at all.”

The left-hander went 4-2 with a 3.99 ERA over 58.2 innings pitched in 2022. In 65 appearances, Poche had seven saves and 23 holds, which were tied for 13th in baseball. Though he had no issues with the team, Poche said he felt like holds were an undervalued aspect during the arbitration process.

“It seemed like they had to take a lot of notes on that,” Poche said of the arbitrators. “To me, that tells me they don’t fully grasp how important that is for us, and maybe they place some importance on other things, like, you know, total games and total innings pitched. But that’s strictly my opinion.”

Thompson made 47 appearances and went 3-3 with a 3.80 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched. He noted that he had positive dialogue with Rays president of baseball operation Erik Neander leading into the arbitration case.

“I’m making a million dollars to play baseball,” Thompson said. “That’s freaking awesome. Right? Like, that’s really freaking cool. So I’m disappointed, but at the end of the day, me and Erik, we’ve had a lot of dialogue. I’m not upset with the Rays.

“They did and said what they had to do to win. They didn’t go for the jugular. They didn’t intentionally try to, like, throw me under the bus to try and win $200,000.”