Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe bid farewell to August by etching his name in another category in the franchise record books.
In the Rays’ 7-4 series-sweeping win over the Washington Nationals on Sunday, Lowe launched a 367-foot grand slam to right field, giving him the fifth of his career and tying Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena for the most in franchise history.
It is the latest achievement for Lowe, whose scope of success goes beyond the Rays organization, in which he also ranks third in home runs (154), seventh in RBIs (434) and eighth in hits (639). The 31-year-old two-time All-Star also leads all second basemen in home runs (28) and RBIs (71) in 2025.
Lowe, often casual and composed, provided a simple response to the accomplishment:
“Not bad company.”
Lowe’s 2025 season has seen him become one of Tampa Bay’s most productive bats. Heading into Monday’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners, he homered three times in four games and is two deep shots shy of becoming the third player in Rays history with multiple 30 home run seasons, joining Evan Longoria (4) and Pena (3).
Currently, Lowe’s 28 homers are the second-most throughout his eight-year MLB career behind his 2021 season in which he hit 39. With 10 more home runs, Lowe will pass Pena to become second all-time on the franchise list.
Now, Lowe is eyeing the exclusivity of another list, spending his entire career with the Rays.
Tampa Bay has never had a player spend their entire career with the organization, and Lowe is entering a crucial point in his tenure. Next season will spell the end of a $24 million deal he signed in March 2019 in which the Rays hold an $11.5 million option ($500,000 buyout) according to Spotrac. In his age-32 season, Lowe will be an unrestricted free agent.
Moreover, the Rays are expected to be under new ownership at the end of the season after it was announced on July 14 that owner Stu Sternberg agreed in principle to sell the club to a group led by Patrick Zalupski, a home builder in Jacksonville, Fla. The change in ownership adds to the complexity of resigning Lowe, but he told reporters on Sunday it is a conversation he hopes to have when the time is right.
“You’d love for there to be some sort of talks to keep myself here for the rest of my career,” Lowe said. “That’s something that I can’t bring up, I don’t think they can truly bring up right now. But when we get to talking about it, that’d be great.”
Lowe, who has spent a decade in the organization, aspires to join some of the greats who have spent their entire career with one team.
“Those are the guys that you idolize growing up. You watch (Derek) Jeter spend his whole career in New York, certain guys that spend their whole career in one place, and that’s essentially kind of a dream.”
“Spend however long as you can in one organization, build kind of that legacy there, and leave something pretty cool and pretty interesting to look back on.”
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