Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe Returns to List of Top 10 Second Basemen in MLB

Brandon Lowe has been slowly rebuilding his reputation over the past few years, and the Tampa Bay Rays veteran's resurgence at the plate is starting to pay off.

MLB Network continued its annual "Top 10 Players Right Now" series on Thursday, moving on to second basemen. Past performance, advanced metrics, traditional stats and input from the MLB Network research team were all taken into account, and it was Arizona Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte who wound up atop the list.

After missing out on a top 10 spot in 2024, Lowe was ranked No. 7 this time around. He entered each of the previous four seasons in the top five, sitting at No. 5 in 2023, No. 3 in 2022, No. 4 in 2021 and No. 5 in 2020.

Lowe was an All-Star and AL Rookie of the Year finalist in 2019, and he followed that up with an eighth-place finish in the AL MVP race in 2020, then a 10th-place finish in 2021. Over that three-season stretch, Lowe hit .258 with an .869 OPS, averaging 40 home runs, 106 RBI and a 5.6 WAR per 162 games.

Back issues, then a triceps contusion, limited Lowe to just 65 appearances in 2022. He wasn't particularly valuable when he was on the field, either, batting .221 with a .691 OPS and 0.9 WAR.

Lowe rebounded a bit with a .231 batting average, .771 OPS and 2.1 WAR in 2023, and he took another step forward by batting .244 with a .783 OPS and 2.4 WAR in 2024. And while lingering injuries prevented Lowe from seeing action in more than 110 games in either season, he still averaged 31 home runs, 94 RBI and a 3.3 WAR per 162 in that span.

Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Lowe owns a .338 expected weighted on-base average. That ranks third among qualified second basemen – trailing only Marte and the St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan – despite it being pulled from a less favorable sample size compared to Lowe's previous three-year stretch.

Lowe has been mentioned in peripheral trade rumors this winter, thanks in large part to his team-leading $10.5 million salary. Other teams with better cash flow would surely love to pick up a top-10 player at his position at that cost, plus the $11.5 million club option for 2026 that comes along with him.

However, it seems like the Rays will be retaining Lowe to open 2025, at least, and the 30-year-old could very well take another step towards regaining his status as a perennial top five second baseman come 2026.

Here is the full list of top 10 second basemen that MLB Network compiled for 2025:

1. Ketel Marte, ARI
2. Jose Altuve, HOU
3. Marcus Semien, TEX
4. Brendan Rodgers, STL
5. Jazz Chisholm Jr., NYY
6. Tyler Fitzgerald, SFG
7. Brandon Lowe, TB
8. Nico Hoerner, CHC
9. Andrés Giménez, TOR
10. Gleyber Torres, DET

Rays slugger Brandon Lowe comes in as the #7 second baseman on The Shredder's #Top10RightNow list. pic.twitter.com/i6rEkPsVCz
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 17, 2025

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