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Originally Posted by jacksonianmarch
Lowrie can handle the routine plays. His range is subpar for SS in the major leagues.
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As I posted yesterday, Lowrie's range (RZR) in his short time at SS in 2008 would be AL-leading were he a regular.
Something interesting--if one looks at Lowrie's FRAA at SS, the best MiLB fielding stat I can access, it shows a big jump for Lowrie at Pawtucket:
| Level | Games | FRAA |
| A- | 40 | -3 |
| A+ | 88 | -10 |
| AA | 84 | -7 |
| AAA | 31 | 8 |
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pe...E19840417A.php
In A and AA, Lowrie cost his team a run every 10-11 games at shortstop. In AAA, he's saved his team a run every four games or so. That's a big difference.
Maybe that superb RZR isn't just a small-sample fluke. Maybe Lowrie's finally caught on to playing shortstop...after all, he played mostly second base for Stanford.
FWIW, he actually pitched some in high school. His pro career was his first time playing SS regularly.
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But when your incumbent has good range, but flubs throws and routine plays on a regular basis, the net gain of starting Lowrie becomes apparent. If Lugo played to his last season's defensive standards, which were rather poor to begin with, then you might have a case to stick with him simply because he made most of the routine plays and a good amount of spectacular ones simply because of his range. But this yr, since he is on pace for 50+ errors, it might be a better defensive move to have Lowrie start. Not to mention the fact that Lowrie centers the ball more on a regular basis. I honestly think Lowrie ends up as a 3b or a 2b at the MLB level, and this debut only furthers his trade value. We'll see. With Pedroia locked in at 2b and Lowell locked in at 3rd, Lowrie may end up locking himself into SS by default, even though he really isnt a true SS.
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Cal Ripken Jr. wasn't a "true shortstop" either, but he did excel at SS given a chance. I see Lowrie as potentially being a more-than-adequate defensive shortstop, and right now Lugo isn't.