Jed Lowrie

Jed Carlson Lowrie (born April 17, 1984) is an American former professional baseball infielder.

He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, and New York Mets.

Lowrie was born on April 17, 1984, in Salem, Oregon, and later attended North Salem High School.

In 2004, while playing for the Stanford University Cardinal baseball team, Lowrie earned Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year honors.

He was a First Team All-American in 2004 and 2005.

At Stanford, future major league outfielders Sam Fuld, John Mayberry Jr.., and Carlos Quentin were among Lowrie's teammates.

From 2005 through 2007, Lowrie played for Boston at three different minor league levels.

During the 2007 season, he made the Eastern League All-Star team, was named the Portland Sea Dogs' Most Valuable Player, and the Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of the Year.

He was promoted to the Pawtucket Red Sox of the Class AAA International League late in the season.

Lowrie was called up from the minor leagues on April 10, 2008, after Mike Lowell was placed on the disabled list (DL).

He made his debut on April 15, driving home three runs in a 5–3 victory in Cleveland.

Lowrie was called up to replace Julio Lugo when he went on the DL. On August 1, 2008, in teammate Jason Bay's first game on the Red Sox, Lowrie hit a game winning infield single in the 12th inning to knock in Bay with the decisive run and upend the Oakland Athletics, 2–1.

Lowrie was responsible for the other Red Sox run in that game, as a sacrifice fly in the second inning allowed Bay to score from third.

On August 24, he hit his second home run of the season, a game-winner, as the Sox won 6–5.

He committed no errors in 49 games played at shortstop during the regular season, and played regularly in the 2008 postseason as one of Boston's two starting shortstops.

Lowrie hit his first major league home run against the Twins inside the Metrodome.

On October 6, 2008, Lowrie drove in the series-winning run against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Lowrie's pre-season grand slam on April 4, 2009, was the first major league home run at Citi Field.

During the 2009 regular season, Lowrie appeared in five games for Boston before landing on the 15-day disabled list with a left wrist sprain on April 13, retroactive to April 12.

On April 21, the switch-hitter underwent an ulnar styloid Excision and arthroscopic ligament repair on his left wrist performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan which landed him on the 60-day disabled list.

Lowrie began a minor league rehab assignment on June 21 and on July 8 the Red Sox activated him from the 60-day DL. Lowrie came off the DL July 18.

However, on August 8, he was placed on the disabled list again with ulnar neuritis in his left wrist.

On September 8, he was re-activated from the DL when the Red Sox expanded their 40-man roster.

In his first game back against the Blue Jays in Toronto he hit a home run batting right-handed.

On October 4, he hit his first career grand slam against the Cleveland Indians.

During spring training, Lowrie suffered from mononucleosis, and as a result, he missed the start of the season.

He made his season debut on July 21, 2010 against the Oakland Athletics.

On August 21, 2010, he hit a walk-off home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the 11th inning off of Casey Janssen.

He also made his debut as a first baseman during the 2010 season, initially as a late-innings replacement for Mike Lowell; the Red Sox planned to give him opportunities to start at first base in the future.

During the final weeks of the season, he had the first multi-home run games of his career, hitting two home runs against the Seattle Mariners on September 14, followed by two more home runs against the Yankees in the season's final game.

Although having less than 200 PA's during the 2010 season, Lowrie's productivity was still substantial; his .904 OPS ranked behind only Troy Tulowitzki among all MLB shortstops.

Entering 2011, needing to contend with shortstop Marco Scutaro for the starting shortstop position in the Red Sox lineup, Lowrie began the season on a tear, hitting .516 through his first 31 at-bats.

On April 18, 2011, he went 4-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

On August 16, 2011, Lowrie started a triple play with help of Dustin Pedroia and Adrián González against the Tampa Bay Rays.

On December 14, 2011, he was traded along with Kyle Weiland to the Houston Astros for reliever Mark Melancon.

Lowrie was about to head to an arbitration hearing, but he and the Astros agreed on a one-year, $1.15 million deal with bonuses for performance and awards on February 8, 2012.

He filed for $1.5 million, but the Astros countered with $900,000.

Had Lowrie gone to a hearing, he would not have had bonuses in his contract.

The Astros on February 4, 2013 traded Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez to the Oakland Athletics for Chris Carter, Brad Peacock, and Max Stassi.

The trade reunited him with former Red Sox teammate Josh Reddick.