Former Calabasas High Player Strives Toward Major League Baseball

The foul tip struck him quickly, a burst to the helmet that a baseball catcher typically shakes off as an occupational hazard before preparing for the next pitch.

It can also be a dangerous missile, as it was July 19 for Richmond Flying Squirrels backstop, Aaron Lowenstein. His trouble seeing upon his return to the dugout and the slurred speech nearly three weeks later told him all he needed to know. His Double-A baseball season was over.

The dream of playing Major League baseball is not.

"I'm not ready to give up on the game," Lowenstein said in Trenton recently, despite suffering his fourth concussion. "I'm feeling better now, but it's been a tough couple of years dealing with concussions and injuries. I wish I could have one full season of health."

That has been a problem for the former baseball star, now in his fourth season of professional ball after being a 44th round pick out of the University of California-Irvine.

The defensive-minded catcher has hit .201 in only 339 at-bats since 2008, spread out over 118 games.

Unable to fly because of the concussion, Lowenstein tries to keep busy mentally. He brings out the lineup card before games and is constantly talking with teammates.

"Low's the man, so it's hard for us to watch him go through this," pitcher Clayton Tanner said. "That sums it up. On the field, he's one of the best catchers I've thrown to. Off the field, he's still here to offer encouragement to everyone."

As Lowenstein slowly recovers, knowing he's appreciated offers some consolation.

"That's nice to hear," he said. "The worst thing about having a concussion is that you can't do anything. I come to the field and feel like I'm not part of the team. I'm just there. That's the most frustrating part. But if some guys feel that I boost their morale, it's a good feeling."

Lowenstein also helps with Tanner’s baseball IQ. He may help his pitcher by noticing how an opposing hitter sets up, or aid a batter by observing a catcher's position and relaying the pertinent information.

He'll do whatever he can to help.
 
A studio art major in college, Lowenstein put that talent to use in 2007 when UCal-Irvine beat Wichita State to win the Super Regionals and became the first team in school history to advance to the College World Series. The players celebrated with a dog pile in center field, and Lowenstein painted the scene as a class project and then donated it to the program. It hangs in the coach's office.

"That was the longest, hardest thing I've ever done, but it came out unreal," he said. "I go in there and check it out every once in a while."

If Lowenstein sees a picture in a magazine or book, he may just interpret it on canvas, and he has a goal to document his time in the minors through sketches.

"It would be centered on the guys and the memories," he said. "I'd for sure have a sketch of the trainer's room and the struggles. But there would be other, happier sketches too."

One of those joyful sketches would be the day he was drafted by the Giants, and his Irvine teammates mobbed him to celebrate.

But growing up in Southern California as a diehard Dodgers fan, Lowenstein joked that being selected by the hated San Francisco Giants was tough to swallow.

"At first, I was like, 'What team? The Giants? Oh, no. Well, oh well, I don't care,'" Lowenstein said with a laugh. "It was an unbelievable feeling. It all hit me at once. It's my dream to play professional baseball and from there, whatever happens, happens."