Take note: Lowe could write a book about hitting

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ANAHEIM -- While breaking down his two-homer game inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Seattle's T-Mobile Park on Saturday night, Brandon Lowe reached into his locker and revealed a small tablet. He tapped at the screen a few times, and digital pages full of his handwriting flipped by.

It was a “reMarkable” paper tablet designed for digital note-taking, a gift from his wife, Madison. And it contains years’ worth of his thoughts, observations, lessons and ideas about hitting. During his junior year at the University of Maryland, Lowe began writing that stuff down in notebooks -- usually one per season -- and going back to those notes whenever he needed to work his way out of a slump.

“I figured out that I learned and remembered stuff better writing stuff down versus typing it out or anything like that,” Lowe explained. “I've always wanted to, like, physically write stuff down and help solidify it in my mind.”

The digital tablet still gives Lowe that pen-to-paper feeling, even if it’s all electronic, with a few benefits. For one, he doesn’t have to worry about losing or breaking them. And he’s been able to consolidate all his notes in one place, a digital record of everything he’s written down over the years.

“I have like 15 notebooks in that thing,” Lowe said.

Lowe said he revisited his notes often in the days leading up to his seventh career multi-homer game, although he didn’t want to get any more specific than that.

“I have a superstition with it all,” he said, “so I'm going to kind of keep that locked away.”

But he shares his notes with hitting coach Chad Mottola, who enjoys Lowe’s way of chronicling his ups and downs and thoughts and tweaks in the batter’s box.

“Obviously with the ebbs and flows, what will work one week, one month, one year doesn't always,” Mottola said. “Your body changes. Things change. He has a catalogue of things to go back to when the idea isn't as fresh, so it helps both of us when he brings it in.”

Lowe seemed poised for a breakout through the week, even as his homerless drought dragged on to 19 games and 79 plate appearances. He had a hit in every game he played from May 1-6, and Mottola knew it was a good sign when Lowe also worked two walks on Friday night in Seattle.

“He’s just slowed down a little bit. The night before, the two walks were just as important as the home runs,” Mottola said, then grinned. “We'll have some notes from the last couple nights, for sure.”