Lowrie a hit with Sea Dogs
PORTLAND, Maine -- When Jed Lowrie's on-base streak reached 38 games, the only players ahead of him on the Portland Sea Dogs' all-time list were Kevin Millar and Kevin Youkilis. And though Lowrie's streak didn't go farther -- Youkilis has the record at 62 -- it got him thinking about the Red Sox' first baseman.
"You look at a guy like Kevin Youkilis, who came through the minor leagues getting on base, that was what he did," said Lowrie. "You look at him now, he's hitting [.332] with however many home runs [eight]. He's just a great ballplayer. I think that's what I kind of take pride in, not necessarily being a power guy or an average guy, just a good ballplayer. You look at all those guys [on Portland's list], they're just good baseball players."
Comparing Lowrie with Youkilis is premature, but Lowrie is developing his stroke (and defense) with the Double A Sea Dogs.
When Jacoby Ellsbury was promoted to Triple A, Jeff Corsaletti was moved from No. 2 in the order to leadoff to replace Ellsbury. That left the No. 2 spot for Lowrie. And, after getting his first three-hit game in Double A hitting second May 6, the 23-year-old Stanford-educated Lowrie has raised his average from .149 to .298 in six weeks.
"From a development standpoint, we would certainly encourage anyone that felt they should emulate Kevin Youkilis's approach to hitting," wrote Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen in an e-mail. "The strengths of Kevin's relentless approach to each at-bat and his ability to execute an offensive game plan are models for our entire hitting program. To compare Kevin and Jed is unfair at this point, but Jed has demonstrated a consistency within his swing and a pitch-to-pitch focus that is very impressive.
"We feel Jed is doing well along his developmental path and continue to stress the defensive side of the game and the intricacies to playing [shortstop]. He has made good strides but there is still more progress needed."
Picked in the promising 2005 draft class (which yielded Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, Clay Buchholz, Lowrie, and Michael Bowden in the top 47 choices), Lowrie is the top prospect in the organization for a position that has become a revolving door. But Lowrie's offensive talents are more developed than those on the defensive side, leading Lowrie to spend more time working on his fielding.
"I think that's why I got drafted by the Red Sox," Lowrie said of his skill at getting on base. "I think, from an early age, I was pretty fortunate to have some coaches that taught that to me, be selective, get a good pitch to hit. I think it's definitely improved since I've been in this organization, but then again I think that's why I got drafted by this organization, because they value that."
