Jed Lowrie (2B, OAK) - Week 4 Waiver Wire Pickups

4 years ago by Doug Goldring

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ROSTERED IN: 49% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Jed Lowrie suffered two lost seasons in 2019 and 2020 with the New York Mets, and it seemed fair to assume that his time as a fantasy asset, not to mention a productive major league baseball player, was over. When Lowrie was signed by the Athletics to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training this year, that seemed more than fair.

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Through 13 games and 53 plate appearances for the A's, Lowrie has outperformed any reasonable expectations. He is slashing a robust .348/.434/.543 with two home runs, 10 runs scored, and 12 RBI. His underlying numbers suggest this line is no fluke, as his xwOBA, xBA, and xSLG numbers sit in the 95th, 97th, and 92nd percentiles respectively. He's also grading very well in quality of contact, with a 54.1 percent hard-hit rate and an excellent 93 MPH average exit velocity.

Lowrie is also regularly batting third in the Athletics lineup, meaning that even if he were to cool off from this torrid start, he will still -+have opportunities to both score and drive in runs. He also provides a solid floor with his strong decision-making at the plate. Lowrie's currently walking 13.2 percent of the time while striking out 17 percent of the time, each of which sit fairly closely in line with career averages. It stands to reason that the Jed Lowrie of old, who registered 120 and 122 wRC+ in his last two healthy seasons in 2017 and 2018, is still here and ready to contribute for fantasy managers.

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