Player of the Series: Brandon Lowe
Since May 13th, Brandon Lowe has been one of the best players in baseball
It was a series to forget for the Tampa Bay Rays as they blew a 6-0 lead on Friday and were nearly shutout on Sunday. They did manage to squeeze in a 11-3 victory on Saturday to avoid being swept.
The offense did have plenty of bright spots. On Saturday, Jonathan Aranda belted a 467 foot homerun and continued to be the best first baseman in the American League. Yandy Diaz also continued his hot hitting ways and might just finish the month of June hitting over .400; Diaz’s current .406 average in June would be the 3rd highest for a single month in franchise history.
However, neither of those two players are our Player of the Series, instead that honor is once again bestowed upon Brandon Lowe for the 4th time this year.
During Friday’s 22-8 drubbing by the Orioles, Lowe did his part of the Rays offense as he collected three hits in five trips to the plate, including his 17th homerun of the season. Lowe had a single and a walk on Saturday before being removed late in the game with the Rays controlling a big lead.
Then on Sunday, it was Lowe who was responsible for the Rays lone run as he launched his 18th homerun of the season in the 9th inning.
Overall, Lowe hit .500/.583/1.100 over the three games with 2 HR.
Lowe has overcome an early season slump to provide the Rays with one of his best offensive seasons in years as he is currently hitting .275/.325/.490 with 18 HR, registering a 130 wRC+ and has accrued 1.7 fWAR over 78 games. Since May 13th, Lowe is hitting .348/.394/.646 with a 193 wRC+ which is the 4th highest among qualifying hitters.
DRAYSBAY PLAYER OF THE SERIES
- 1st: Kameron Misner
- 2nd: Jake Mangum
- 3rd: Brandon Lowe
- 4th: Jose Caballero
- 5th: Joe Boyle
- 6th: Shane Baz
- 7th: Chandler Simpson
- 8th: Christopher Morel
- 9th: Chandler Simpson
- 10th: Mason Englert
- 11th: Taylor Walls
- 12th: Yandy Diaz
- 13th: Travis Jankowski
- 14th: Brandon Lowe
- 15th: Drew Rasmussen
- 16th: Curtis Mead
- 17th: Junior Caminero
- 18th: Zack Littell
- 19th: Zack Littell
- 20th: Junor Caminero
- 21st: Christopher Morel
- 22nd: Yandy Diaz
- 23rd: Junior Caminero
- 24th: Brandon Lowe
- 25th: Yandy Diaz
- 26th: Shane Baz
- 27th: Brandon Lowe