2009 Review: Mark Lowe

It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster for Mark Lowe these past few years. He dominated his way through his rookie season, and then promptly had arm surgery that knocked him out for most of 2007. His sophomore season was, frankly, bad.

But, finally, Mark Lowe found his mojo in 2009.  He struck out 68 batters in 78 innings, compared to only 27 walks. Mark lowered his BB/9 from 4.81 in 2008 to 3.26 in 2009. His tRA dropped from 5.44 last year to 4.29 through his 2009 campaign, and his FIP from 4.42 to 3.60. His swinging strike percentage dropped a bit from 2008, but his control improved tremendously. And to put a cherry on his 2009 improvement, Lowe actually had a 1.3 groundball-to-flyball ratio according to Statcorner.com. Interestingly, Fangraphs has Lowe with a 0.97 GB-FB ratio, and I’m not sure why the two sites report different results. Either way, Lowe’s been a beast.

And, as we all know, Lowe’s changeup is absolutely monstrous. Jeff Sullivan called it the best pitch of any 2009 Mariner, and I would have to agree wholeheartedly.

Here’s the most (pleasantly) startling player comparison regarding Lowe’s improvement: Mark Lowe was worth 1.3 wins above replacement in 2009. David Aardsma was worth 1.9 wins above replacement in 2009. True, relief pitchers are debatably the most easily replaced type of ballplayer and don’t score well in the WAR department, but Mark Lowe was, in all honesty, close to Aardsma’s level of efficiency in 2009.

If Aardsma is dealt during the off-season, the Mariners have a more-than-capable replacement in Mark Lowe.