What's the deal with Mike Lowell?
While the Red Sox picked up Lowell primarily as a way to get Josh Beckett, I thought it he was a good risk for the Red Sox anyway. Despite lots of comments about his terrible bat speed, and coming off an awful season, I thought he had a decent chance of having a bounce-back year, and would love hitting in Fenway Park. He is doing pretty well so far, but his stats...well, they're weird.
Despite playing half of his games in a park where doubles (or even outs) become home runs, Lowell now has 19 doubles and only 2 home runs on the season. Michael Young is the only other player in the league with over 11 doubles, so Lowell is not only leading the league, he's lapped most of the other players. He's hit 13 of those doubles at home, but has hit his only 2 home runs on the road.
Is Lowell just a guy that can't help hitting line drives off the Monster? Is this just a small sample fluke? Or is this a deliberate hitting strategy?
2 comments:
Most of his doubles have been gappers, so to this point, no, I don't think the wall has helped him that much. I'm not sure how much home run power he really has left. His two home runs have been off Chad Orvella and Joaquin Benoit, so that should say something.
He's mostly been hitting line drives, and I don't think he's going to hit even 15 homers this year, but he'll still be more valuable than just about anyone thought he could be if he continues his 101-double pace...
Sweet, my reverse-jinx home run projection for Lowell worked...
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