The Oakland A's exercised their contract option on second baseman Jed Lowrie for the 2018 season, the club announced today. The A's also named Mark Kotsay major league quality control coach.
Lowrie set an Oakland record with 49 doubles last year, breaking the previous mark of 47 set by Jason Giambi in 2011. He ranked second in the American League and second in Athletics history in doubles, falling four short of the franchise record of 53 by Al Simmons in 1926. The 33-year-old switch-hitter had career highs in runs (86), doubles, extra base hits (66) and walks (73) and led the A's with a .277 batting average. Lowrie is a .261 career hitter in 952 games in 10 seasons in the majors. He has a .272 average in four seasons with the A's, which is the eighth best batting average in Oakland history.
Kotsay returns to the A's coaching staff as major league quality control coach. In this role, Mark will assist Bob Melvin and the ML coaching staff in all areas and will also consult with the front office in other facets of the organization. Kotsay was originally named bench coach Nov. 12, 2015 before taking a leave of absence in June of 2017.