The Restaurant and the Count

A Restaurant in 2015

Two days before the 2015 draft, Brandon Lowe broke his leg and was on crutches. An adviser told him to prepare for another year of college. He was at a restaurant when a roommate's mother announced the Rays had selected him 87th overall. That came after he had already torn his ACL two days before his freshman season at Maryland and redshirted the year.

On September 8, Lowe scored his 500th career run. He crossed the plate 880 games into a career that began in Tampa Bay in August 2018 and is now in its first year in Pittsburgh.

Eight Years in Tampa Bay

Kevin Cash and Rays teammates described Lowe as a leader who grew over those seasons — as a player, a teammate, a husband, and a father. He met Madison Martin, a Maryland softball player, during college study hall. They went through a multi-year IVF journey before their son Emmett was born in 2023 and daughter Bella Wren in 2024, and now support mental health awareness and infertility grants through causes including Home Runs for Hope and the Baby Quest Foundation.

A two-time All-Star — in 2019 and again in 2025 — Lowe has hit .249 with 186 home runs across his career. After eight seasons with the Rays, he is in Pittsburgh for 2026. The hardest part was telling three-year-old Emmett that daddy played for a new team now and would make new friends instead of growing up alongside a Rays teammate's child.

Pittsburgh

He is 32, with 29 home runs through 135 games in a Pirates uniform. He is still at second base.

Reporting: Wikipedia, The Ray Tank / Inside Pitch, MLB.com, Altoona Mirror, Baseball America. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.