BRADENTON, Fla. — Like many of us, Brandon Lowe wishes he could go back in time and operate with a little more logic.
It was the offseason prior to the 2016 season. Lowe had hit .331 in 66 games the previous year at the University of Maryland, and the new professional thought he had things figured out.
So much so that Lowe brushed aside one of his agents, Hunter Bledsoe, who recommended Lowe adjust his swing and drill deeper into some hitting nuance he believed would help.
“I kind of brushed him off,” Lowe recalled. “I thought, ‘I hit .330, I can do this.’ Then I got the [crap] beat out of me in Low-A. I looked horrible. I felt horrible. There was no power. There were very few hits.
“Next offseason, I tucked tail and said, ‘Alright, whatever you want to do. No matter how dumb I think the drill is or how weird I feel or if I disagree with it, I’m here to learn.’ ”
Lowe hasn’t stopping learning — or hitting with a surprising amount of power for someone listed at 5-foot-9, 181 pounds — since that time in his career.
The line of demarcation is not subtle, either. In 2016, Lowe batted .248 and slugged just .343. The next season, after listening to Bledsoe, Lowe slugged .558, posted a .949 OPS and reached Double-A.
By 2018, Lowe was in the big leagues with the Rays.
“When I was younger, I never used my body the right way,” Lowe said. “My movements were inefficient. Now, I’m using all 185 pounds I’ve got.
“There’s a lot that goes into it. I could talk for an hour about where it all comes from. But the biggest thing is using my legs and hips, creating separation and moving in the most efficient way possible.”
Lowe hit 31 home runs last season, reached 39 in 2021 and for his career has slugged .481. To add context, Bryan Reynolds’ career slugging percentage is .459, while Marcell Ozuna is slightly better at .469.
Lowe just doesn’t look the part, hence why a number of years ago he got the nickname Bamm-Bamm, a nod to the Flintstones character with excessive strength.
“Not bad for a little guy,” Reynolds said, needling Lowe. “But he’s got pop. He can put the ball in the air pull side, where you don’t have to hit it 115 [mph] to hit a homer. He definitely uses everything he’s got.”
It’s not a simple process for Lowe, who said he’s forever indebted to Hunter Bledsoe and his brother, Dustin, for what the brothers running the Bledsoe Agency did for his career.
Back then, Hunter essentially approached Brandon with a question. MLB second basemen have one of two profiles, Hunter said. They either hit for a high average and steal bases or hit homers.
Hunter Bledsoe then asked Lowe where he thought he fit.
“He said, ‘I think I have a better chance of hitting the ball out of the ballpark.’ ” Hunter said. “I said, ‘I don’t disagree with you. But if you’re going to do that, you’re gonna have to sequence better.’ ”
The comparison Hunter made was that of an Olympic weightlifter. If he/she performs a clean and jerk, there’s a specific specific sequence to follow to maximize force.
But when Bledsoe watched Lowe swing, he saw hands that moved forward too early, not enough lower-half power generated and a hitter who wasn’t connected to the ground.
Although it’s better known on the pitching side, the Core Velocity Belt became an important part of Lowe’s work. It’s a training tool Lantz Wheeler and Hunter Bledsoe helped create, and in simple terms, it makes players more aware of how their lower half is moving.
“Your hands, feet and tongue have lots of nerve endings, so you have lots of feel in those areas,” Bledsoe said. “The hips are the driver of the swing, but there aren’t tons of nerve endings there. To become more aware of your center, how to utilize the core and center of your body, you need to give it some cues.
“We utilized the belt to make [Lowe] more aware of his core so that he could generate force from the big muscles out to the small ones.”
Along with moving his body the right way, and in the proper order, Lowe has also found success over time because of what he’s able to process.
Not only the strike zone and maintaining a strong on-base percentage (career OBP: .326) but recognizing when something he’s doing might be slightly off and having the awareness to fit it.
“He’s always had a great mind to hit,” Bledsoe said. “It was more recognizing and learning how he could adapt his game.”
You know, once Lowe got past the typical 20-something response of acting like he had the answers.
Since admitting he could use some help, the undersized power hitter delivered in a big way for the Rays and will assume that same level of responsibility with the Pirates.
“I packed up everything I owned and moved to Nashville, went with a buddy of mine who was also in the agency, and we hit,” Lowe said, recalling that winter that led into the 2017 season.
“There were a lot of times where I was like, ‘This makes no sense.’ But as I look back on it now, I wish I could have smacked myself. Like, ‘Hey, man, just commit to the process and understand what you’re doing here.’ That was me being young, dumb and naive.
“I’m not a big leaguer without that group. It doesn’t matter what happens. We’ll always be with them.”
Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and via X @JMackey_PGH.