What Could Have Been For Rays’ Lowe If Not For Injury?
Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros received all 30 first place votes as he was unanimously voted the 2019 American League Rookie of the Year. Alvarez deserved all 30 first place votes after batting .313/.412/.655 with 27 home runs in 87 games and 369 plate appearances.
Alvarez joins Carlos Correa (2015) and Jeff Bagwell (1991) as Astros to take home the rookie of the year reward. He is the 11th player to win the award by unanimous vote.
Left-handed pitcher John Means of the Baltimore Orioles finished second in the cote garnering 53 points (16 2nd place votes, 5 3rd place votes). Means posted a 12-11 mark with a 3.60 ERA spamming 31 games and 27 starts. He struck out 121 batters in 155 innings of work and posted a WHIP of 1.135. He was named to the American League All-Star team.
Brandon Lowe received 27 points (18 2nd place votes, 9 3rd place votes) in finishing in third place. Like Means, Brandon Lowe was named to the American League All-Star squad but suffered a lower leg injury on July 2nd.
He was nearing return to the Rays when he strained his quadricep on August 22nd in a rehab game. He finally returned to the Rays lineup on September 22nd.
Despite missing a big chunk of the season, Lowe hit .270/.336/.514 with 17 homers in 327 plate appearances.
Rays fans are left to wonder what Lowe’s final numbers would have looked like had he not missed such a big chunk of the season.
On an individual level, maybe Lowe wins the rookie of the year award or at least shaves some first place votes from Alvarez. From a team perspective, could Lowe’s bat have made enough of an impact to cut into the seven games that the New York Yankees won the American East?
We will never know. Hopefully in 2020 Lowe can put up 500+ plate appearances and we can all witness how much impact he can have on the lineup.
