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Athletics Opening Day countdown: Jed Lowrie is best No. 8 in A’s history

Originally posted on Dice City Sports | By Mark Hebert | Last updated Mar 19, 2026 9:36 AM ET

8 days remain until Athletics Opening Day at the Toronto Blue Jays on March 27, 2026. With Las Vegas on the horizon, this daily countdown tracks the best A’s players by jersey number.

Today, March 19, 2026, the number is 8.

Jed Lowrie, No. 8

Jed Lowrie is the best Athletics player to wear No. 8 because he gave Oakland a long stretch of steady, above-average infield production across two different eras. He wasn’t a one-year cameo or a jersey-number placeholder. He was a real lineup piece, a switch-hitter who could handle multiple infield spots, and a familiar presence through playoff pushes and roster churn.

Lowrie’s overall career value is solid (15.4 career WAR), but the A’s portion is what makes the case here. In seven seasons with Oakland, he posted 9.0 WAR, hit .262 with 77 homers, and piled up 205 doubles while bouncing between shortstop, second, and third.

7 seasons in Oakland
876 games
847 hits
205 doubles
405 RBI
2 helmet flaps

Thank you for all the memories, @Jed_Lowrie! Best of luck in your next chapter!

Image | Source: Dice City Sports
Image | Source: Dice City Sports
https://t.co/qutG84IHSH pic.twitter.com/jLzAwjnxwa
— Athletics (@Athletics) March 23, 2023

Why Lowrie gets No. 8

Lowrie gets No. 8 because he combined longevity with actual importance. Oakland got meaningful seasons out of him, not just innings-eater service time. His best A’s years also line up with contention: he was a key regular on the 2013-14 clubs, then returned and became a central bat again in 2017-18.

His peak A’s season is the separator. In 2018, Lowrie made the All-Star team and finished with 4.0 WAR while driving in 99 runs and posting a .801 OPS. On a team full of big storylines, he was the reliable veteran who kept putting quality at-bats in the middle of the order.

Career start and background

Lowrie was born April 17, 1984, in Salem, Oregon. A first-round pick out of Stanford, he debuted with Boston in 2008 before later stops in Houston and New York.

Oakland acquired him from the Astros before the 2013 season, and his two stints with the A’s (2013-14 and 2016-18, 2021-22) turned him into one of the more identifiable infielders of the last decade-plus.

Other notable No. 8s

Jed Lowrie
Bobby Crosby
Kurt Suzuki
Joe Rudi
Ray Fosse

Career check

No. 8 goes to Jed Lowrie. His A’s tenure was long enough to define the number, his 2018 season gave him a real peak in green and gold, and his overall Oakland production stands above the rest of the list.

This article first appeared on Dice City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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