Brandon Lowe’s hitting has been great so far this year. Lowe is the current Rays team leader for AVG and OPS. It feels like every time he is at the plate, you can count on him for a hit or a quality at-bat. Let’s take a look at how is he doing compared to last season, and what changes he might have made.
How is Brandon Lowe Hitting the Ball?
Barrel Percentage
Have you noticed that Lowe’s been getting a lot of extra base hits? So far this season, he has 7 doubles, 2 triples, and 7 home runs. He’s actually first in MLB for extra base hits.
If a player is getting a lot of extra base hits, chances are he has a pretty high barrel percentage. Barrel percentage describes the amount of times a ball is hit in a certain range and combination of launch angle and exit velocity to maximize results. If you hit the ball with the right combination of the two, the batting average on that ball in play will most likely be above .500, and the slugging above 1.500. So if your barrel percentage is high, chances are so are your batting stats.
Lowe’s barrel percentage for the 2020 season so far is 19.2%, putting him at top 10% in the league.
Looking at the visual below from Baseball Savant, you can see that almost all of Lowe’s extra base hits (and some singles) are in the barrel zone. The barrel zone is the darkest teal area of the graph.
Hard Hit Percentage
If his barrel percentage is high, Lowe must be hitting the ball pretty hard. His hard hit percentage so far is 40%.
Last season, Lowe finished the season with a hard hit percentage of 46%. So his hard hit percentage for this year is down 6%, but I don’t think there is any reason to panic. His hard hit percentage for this year is still 5% higher than average. Plus, he’s been hitting the ball far and the season just started.
What are the Results?
Standard Stats
| AVG | OBP | SLG | K% | BB% | |
| 2019 | .270 | .336 | .514 | 36% | 7.6% |
| 2020 | .342 | .409 | .747 | 25% | 7.5% |
The season is still early, but so far so good! His average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage are all higher than last year. In addition, his strikeout rate is down 10% from last season (still striking out more than average though) and his walk rate is the same.
Weighted On-Base Average
Not only has Lowe been getting a lot of extra base hits, but those extra base hits are directly correlating to more runs.
Lowe’s wOBA for the 2020 season so far is .443, top 7% in the league. wOBA is a valuable offensive metric that provides a more accurate description (compared to stats like OPS) of how the player is contributing to scoring runs.
Thoughts on how Brandon Lowe’s Hitting
Rays hitting may have started slow, but Lowe’s bat has been hot all year. He’s seeing the ball well, getting big hits when others aren’t, and hitting consistently. He was an all-star player last year, and if there was an all-star game this year he would definitely be headed there again.