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More on the story of a man named JED!
March 16, 2009
After being drafted, Lowrie spent just two full years and part of a third in the Red Sox minor league system, raising his stock from a possible replacement level player who many thought did not have the defensive ability to play shortstop to the probable starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox.
Lowrie’s first full pro season was spent in low-A ball Wilmington, where he played 97 games and posted a line of .262/.352/.374 with 50 RBI’s and 3 home runs. Reviews continued to be less than spectacular about Lowrie’s defensive play in Low A ball, but with solid offensive numbers like that, he quickly jumped to double A Portland the next year.
In 93 games at Portland in 2007, Lowrie put up a line of .297/.410/.501 with 49 RBI’s and 8 home runs, earning his promotion to triple-A Pawtucket. While at Pawtucket, Lowrie continued to put up spectacular numbers with a line of .300/.356/.506 with 21 RBI’s and 5 home runs in 40 games. At that point, astute fans in Boston had already begun to call for Lowrie at the major league level, because of the great numbers the youngster from Stanford was putting up on the farm and the severe struggles of Julio Lugo. Lowrie didn’t make it to the majors in 2007, though, and began the 2008 season at Pawtucket once more, with Lugo blocking his ascent at short stop, and established stars like Mike Lowell and Dustin Pedroia making it impossible for the infielder to come to the majors in a utility role.
Lowrie was not deterred, though, and started the season at Pawtucket by putting up a line of .268/.359/.434 with 32 RBI’s and 5 home runs in 53 games. Luckily for Lowrie, injuries struck the Red Sox infield early in the season, with utility infielder Alex Cora suffering an elbow strain, and Lowrie was finally called up to the majors, much to the delight of many Red Sox fans. While in the majors, Lowrie did not disappoint. The youngster batted .323/.371/.419 with 5 RBI during April and March and opened the eyes of Red Sox nation. Unfortunately for Lowrie, Cora eventually recovered and the young short stop played just 16 games for Boston in the months of May and July.
In August, though, Lowrie finally got his chance when Lugo went down with a torn quad that would sideline him for the rest of the season. Although Lugo was having by far his best season with Boston, fans were elated by the power and patience that Lugo showed, as the steady but not spectacular defense that the team had been missing at short. In that month, Lowrie played 27 games and posted a line of .284/.353/.490 with 24 RBI’s and 12 doubles, one less than Lugo posted for the entire season.
Now heres another question. Will the Red Sox be wise and keep Jed in for most of the AB's or will they bring in LUGO once he heals and automatically give Lugo the starting role?
Shall we start petitioning the Sox leadership now to say, JED WILL BRING US SOME TEXAS TEA....leave him be.?
D
-Redsoxfan4evr
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