Nathaniel Lowe

Nathaniel Lowe

29-Year-Old First Baseman1B
Washington Nationals
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Lowe boasts a .359 on-base percentage in his four seasons as the Rangers' primary first baseman, which is the sixth-best mark at his position over that time. He has not been a consistent fantasy contributor over that stretch, however. Lowe popped 27 home runs while batting .302 in 2022, but in his three other seasons with Texas he's hit between 16 and 18 home runs and batted between .262 and .265. The 29-year-old also saw his quality of contact diminish for the second year in a row in 2024. Lowe's on-base skills and quality glove should continue to afford him regular opportunities, but you can aim higher in shallower fantasy leagues. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
From Preseason
$Signed a one-year, $7.5 million contract with the Rangers in January of 2024.
Traded to Washington
1BWashington Nationals
December 22, 2024
The Nationals acquired Lowe from the Rangers on Sunday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Per Passan, the Rangers will receive left-handed reliever Robert Garcia in a 1-for-1 trade. Lowe played in 140 regular-season games for the Rangers in 2024 and finished with a slash line of .265/.361/.401 with 16 home runs and 69 RBI over 565 plate appearances. The trade provides a path for Jake Burger -- who was acquired by the Rangers from the Marlins on Dec. 10 -- to take over as the starting first baseman for the Rangers for the 2025 campaign.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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2021 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
22
11
43
30
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
10
5
13
2
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+2%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+6%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+30%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+13%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .785 574 57 17 78 0 .280 .359 .426
Since 2022vs Right .803 1360 168 43 149 5 .275 .360 .443
2024vs Left .796 144 13 3 26 0 .292 .396 .400
2024vs Right .751 421 49 13 43 2 .257 .349 .402
2023vs Left .642 219 18 4 23 0 .223 .311 .332
2023vs Right .833 505 71 13 59 1 .279 .382 .451
2022vs Left .920 211 26 10 29 0 .330 .384 .536
2022vs Right .817 434 48 17 47 2 .288 .346 .471
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+5%
OPS on Road
2024
 
 
+3%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+7%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+18%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .779 946 113 29 103 4 .269 .353 .426
Since 2022Away .815 988 112 31 124 1 .284 .366 .449
2024Home .749 279 31 8 28 2 .254 .355 .394
2024Away .775 286 31 8 41 0 .276 .367 .408
2023Home .803 353 48 11 48 1 .270 .360 .443
2023Away .747 371 41 6 34 0 .253 .361 .386
2022Home .778 314 34 10 27 1 .280 .344 .434
2022Away .919 331 40 17 49 1 .322 .372 .547
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Stat Review
How does Nathaniel Lowe compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.57
 
BB Rate
12.6%
 
K Rate
22.1%
 
BABIP
.324
 
ISO
.136
 
AVG
.265
 
OBP
.361
 
SLG
.401
 
OPS
.762
 
wOBA
.341
 
Exit Velocity
88.9 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
30.1%
 
Barrels/PA
3.7%
 
Expected BA
.252
 
Expected SLG
.380
 
Sprint Speed
22.8 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
47.7%
 
Line Drive %
23.0%
 
Fly Ball %
29.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
Our 2023 outlook for Lowe came together rather well in the end as the first baseman regressed to previous levels in the face of the new rules. Lowe remains one of the more disciplined hitters in the league who will patiently work a count while looking for his pitch while being more than willing to accept a walk in any given situation. Lowe's issues against lefties (.223) helped pull his batting average down in 2023, but given he hit .277 and .330 against lefties in the previous two seasons, it would not surprise us to see him recover in 2024 to add some more life to his average. Despite his size, Lowe has league-average speed but Texas has not put him in motion over the past two seasons after allowing him some opportunities in 2021. Lowe is in an enviable position of playing daily in a potent lineup and has the potential to drive in 100 and even score 100 if the guys around him stay healthy all season. 2022 may have been his ceiling, but maybe not.
Lowe had a surprisingly terrific fantasy season in his second full season at the major leagues setting career highs nearly across the board. The .302 batting average was a huge surprise given he is not the quickest of players, but 19 infield hits on mostly weakly hit balls against the shift certainly helped push his batting average up this season. He also finally showed more consistent loft in his swing, and while he still has a 1.5:1 grounder to flyball ratio, that is an improvement over the 2.0 level he was living at in previous seasons. He has always been an excellent hitter when ahead in the count, but 2022 was the first time he wasn't futile when down in the count. Lowe hit .281 in such situations this past season going .179 in such situations previously. If you are banking on him hitting near .300 again, factor in that data point as well as the infield hits with the shifting rules changing. Draft for run production and level set your batting average projections a tercile lower.
In Lowe's first full MLB season, his output was acceptable. The 18 homers were disappointing from a first baseman, but he contributed eight steals after stealing five total in his five previous seasons. Hitting the ball hard is not the issue, with most of his Statcast hard-hit metrics in the league's top 25%. Instead, his power production will be limited if he continues to post a 55 GB%, a number that kept ballooning as the season went on (59.4 GB% in the second half, 62.8% in September). On the other hand, he did show a nice improvement in his plate discipline with his walk rate up and his strikeouts down from 36.8% to 25.2%. He's sort of morphing into an Eric Hosmer clone. His profile has been bouncing around, so it's tough to get a read on his future value. There is some hope for upside if he raises his launch angle and becomes more of a 30-homer hitter. Roster him late if you want but be ready to move on quickly if changes don't come.
Lowe opened the year at the Rays' alternate training site despite having demonstrated he can handle major-league pitching by posting a .779 OPS in 50 games the season prior. Injuries created a need for a corner bat, and Lowe was promoted Aug. 2. He started slow, slashing .071/.235/.143 over his first six games before closing on fire with a .409/.500/.864 line, though Lowe fanned at a 42% clip over those final seven games. Tampa Bay traded Lowe to Texas in December and he's slated to be the Rangers' regular first baseman. Lowe has proven all he can at the Triple-A level, but he's been unable to carry the contact shown in the minors to the major-league level. When he hits the ball, Lowe has made a lot of hard contact with a good mix of flyballs and groundballs to aid both average and power. It's speculative, but there are ample positive signs to take a late flier on Lowe at corner or utility.
Lowe appeared in his first 50 MLB games in 2019, holding his own with a .263/.325/.454 slash line (good for a 107 wRC+) and seven homers. On most teams that would be enough for him to at least start on the strong side of a platoon, but with Ji-Man Choi and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo already in the fold as left-handed hitters at the bottom of the defensive spectrum, Lowe could be ticketed for Triple-A. Scouts like both his power and contact, and he managed a strong .289/.421/.508 line in 93 games for Triple-A Durham. His plate discipline was particularly noteworthy over that stretch, as he posted a 17.7 BB% and a 20.2 K%, far better than his 7.7 BB% and 29.6 K% in the majors. He had an .888 OPS in 178 PA against same-handed pitching at Triple-A, so a move to a less platoon-happy organization would be a boon for his fantasy value. If the Rays stand pat, it could mean another year of inconsistent playing time.
Prior to 2018, Lowe’s claim to fame was being the older brother of Josh Lowe, the Rays’ selection with the No. 13 overall pick in 2016. Nathaniel was less heralded, transferring from Mercer to St. Johns River State College to Mississippi State before Tampa selected him in the 13th round in 2016. As an older first baseman with minimal pedigree, he wasn’t considered much of a prospect until he exploded in his third pro season. Lowe was the best hitter in the Florida State League (191 wRC+), got promoted to Double-A, was the best hitter in the Southern League (193 wRC+), and finally got challenged after a promotion to Triple-A. His walk rate dipped (15.6% to 7.3%), his strikeout rate spiked (13.3% to 24.5%) and his pull rate jumped by 11%. If he can recapture the patient, all-fields, flyball-oriented approach he showed at Double-A, Lowe will look the part of a big-league cleanup hitter. If not, there is some Quadruple-A hitter risk.
More Fantasy News
Homers in win
1BTexas Rangers
September 29, 2024
Lowe went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, a double, two runs scored and a walk in Sunday's win over the Angels.
ANALYSIS
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Fuels comeback win
1BTexas Rangers
September 29, 2024
Lowe went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a home run, three RBI and two additional runs scored in Saturday's 9-8 win over the Angels.
ANALYSIS
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Goes deep Tuesday
1BTexas Rangers
September 25, 2024
Lowe went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Tuesday's loss to the Athletics.
ANALYSIS
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Knocks in two in loss
1BTexas Rangers
September 21, 2024
Lowe went 1-for-4 with two RBI in Friday's 8-2 loss to Seattle.
ANALYSIS
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Three hits, two RBI in loss
1BTexas Rangers
September 13, 2024
Lowe went 3-for-4 with two RBI in Friday's 5-4 loss to the Mariners.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Interest from Pittsburgh?
1BTexas Rangers
November 24, 2024
The Pirates could attempt to acquire Lowe from the Rangers, per Danny Demilio of PittsburghBaseballNow.com.
ANALYSIS
First base is a serious position of need for Pittsburgh, and Texas may look to get away from Lowe's estimated salary of $10.7 million. The 29-year-old doesn't offer the power of a prototypical first baseman, but he's still been a reliable producer and had 16 homers with a .762 OPS in 2024.
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