Nathaniel Lowe

David Nathaniel Lowe Jr. (/loʊ/ LOH;[1] born July 7, 1995) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Nathaniel Lowe
Lowe with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019
Texas Rangers – No. 30
First baseman
Born: (1995-07-07) July 7, 1995
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 29, 2019, for the Tampa Bay Rays
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.273
Home runs73
Runs batted in260
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Amateur career

Lowe attended Pope High School in Marietta, Georgia, where he also played upright bass in orchestra and jazz bands. He enrolled at Mercer University and played college baseball for the Mercer Bears in 2014. He transferred to St. Johns River State College for the 2015 season, and transferred to Mississippi State University to play for the Mississippi State Bulldogs for 2016.[2] That year, he was named a Second Team All-American by Louisville Slugger.[3]

Professional career

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays selected Lowe in the 13th round, with the 390th overall selection, of the 2016 MLB draft.[2] He signed and made his professional debut with the Hudson Valley Renegades of the Class A Short Season New York-Penn League, batting .300/.382/.437 with four home runs and 40 runs batted in (RBIs) in 67 games.[4] He played for both the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the Class A Midwest League and the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 2017,[5] hitting .274 with seven home runs and 59 RBIs in 115 games between both teams.[6]

Lowe began the 2018 season with Charlotte.[6] He received a midseason promotion to the Montgomery Biscuits of the Class AA Southern League, and was named to represent the Rays in the 2018 All-Star Futures Game.[7] The Rays promoted Lowe again, to the Durham Bulls of the Class AAA International League, in August.[8] Lowe was named to the 2018 MLB Pipeline team of the year after hitting .330/.416/.568 with 27 home runs and 102 RBIs in 130 games between the three clubs.[9] He returned to Durham to begin 2019.[10]

The Rays promoted Lowe to the major leagues on April 29, 2019.[11] On July 5, 2019 he hit his first major league home run against the New York Yankees.[12] On July 13, 2019 Lowe recorded his first multi home run game.[13] In 2020 for the Rays, Lowe appeared in 21 games, slashing .224/.316/.433 with 4 home runs 11 RBIs in 76 at-bats.[14]

Texas Rangers

On December 10, 2020, the Rays traded Lowe to the Texas Rangers along with Jake Guenther and Carl Chester in exchange for Heriberto Hernandez, Osleivis Basabe, and Alexander Ovalles.[15] Over 157 games in 2021, Lowe hit .264/.357/.415/.771 with 18 home runs and 72 RBIs.[16]

On June 15, 2022, Lowe became the first major leaguer to strike out in two immaculate innings in one game versus the Houston Astros. It was also the first occurrence in major league history of more than one immaculate inning thrown on the same date. The first was hurled in the second inning by starter Luis Garcia and the second in the seventh inning by reliever Phil Maton.[17]

Lowe hit into 3–6 triple play in the fourth inning on August 22, lining out to Minnesota Twins first baseman José Miranda, who put out Corey Seager and threw to shortstop Carlos Correa to put out Marcus Semien at second base.[18] For the week ending August 28, 2022, Lowe was named AL Player of the Week. In six games, he batted .385/.407/.923/1.331 (10-for-26) with four home runs and 11 RBI He led all MLB players in RBI, home runs (tied), and total bases (tied-24). [19]

Lowe finished the 2022 season hitting .302/.358/.492/.851 with 27 home runs and 76 RBI.[20] He received the 2022 American League Silver Slugger Award for first basemen.[21]

On January 13, 2023, Lowe agreed to a one-year, $4.05 million contract with the Rangers for the 2023 season, avoiding salary arbitration.[22]

Personal life

His brother, Josh Lowe, plays for the Rays.[23] They were teammates with Bowling Green and Charlotte.[5][6] His father, David, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 1986 MLB Draft,[24] but instead attended the U.S. Naval Academy and became a Naval Aviator and career fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy for twenty years.[25]

Prior to the 2021 MLB season, Lowe was known as Nate Lowe. However, Lowe's mom asked for him to be known as Nathaniel professionally after seeing a birthday tweet by Bally Sports Southwest calling him Nate.[26]

As of March 29 2023, Nathaniel Lowe is the third commentator on the ¨Straight up Texas¨ podcast, the official podcast of the Texas Rangers, with radio broadcaster Jared Sandler.

References
  1. Curtis, Charles. "Here is how to pronounce the last name of Rays star Brandon Lowe," USA Today, Thursday, October 22, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2021
  2. Chastain, Bill (May 24, 2018). "Rays get Nathaniel Lowe in 13th round of Draft". MLB.com. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  3. "MSU's Hudson, Lowe named Louisville All-Americans". Clarionledger.com. June 2, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  4. "Nathaniel Lowe Stats, Highlights, Bio - MiLB.com Stats - The Official Site of Minor League Baseball". MiLB.com. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  5. "Lowe brothers relishing chance to play together | Hot Rods". bgdailynews.com. April 21, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  6. "Lowe brothers making waves in Charlotte". MiLB.com. May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  7. Kennedy, Jahmal (July 7, 2018). "Biscuits slugger selected to All-Star Futures Game - WSFA.com Montgomery Alabama news". Wsfa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  8. "Bulls' Lowe dazzles in Triple-A debut". MiLB.com. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  9. "2018 Pipeline's Prospect Team of the Year". MLB.com. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  10. "Rays Journal: Prospects Nate Lowe, Colin Poche among latest cuts". Tampabay.com. March 16, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  11. "Rays promoting slugging first baseman Lowe". Espn.com. April 29, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  12. "Rays' Nate Lowe: Slugs first big-league homer". CBS Sports. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  13. "Batter's Box: How Lowe can you Go?". Pitcher List. July 14, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  14. "Can Nate Lowe be a Top-10 Fantasy 1st Baseman in 2021?". December 14, 2020.
  15. "Texas adds 1B Lowe in 6-player trade with TB". MLB.com.
  16. Levi Weaver (October 6, 2021). "Grading the 2021 Texas Rangers: Position players edition". The Athletic. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  17. "Houston Astros' Luis Garcia, Phil Maton first in recorded history to throw immaculate innings in one game". ESPN.com. June 15, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  18. Park, Do-Hyoung (August 22, 2022). "Twins turn their second triple play of the season". MLB.com. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  19. "Rangers 1B Nathaniel Lowe named AL Player of the Week". NBC DFW. August 30, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  20. Postins, Matthew (November 16, 2022). "Rangers 40-Man Roster Wraps: Nathaniel Lowe". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  21. Grant, Evan (November 10, 2022). "Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe wins Silver Slugger award". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  22. "2023 MLB Arbitration Tracker". MLBTradeRumors. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  23. James, Pat (June 8, 2016). "Draft prospect Josh Lowe driven by family". Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  24. Winkeljohn, Matt (May 25, 2016). "Lowe Brothers Prepare To Go High In Draft". Baseball America. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
  25. "Tampa Bay Rays draft Georgia brothers Joshua and Nathaniel Lowe | USA TODAY High School Sports". Usatodayhss.com. June 12, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  26. Plinck, Alex (June 15, 2021). "Mama Knows Best: the reason for the Nate to Nathaniel switch for Rangers first baseman". www.dallassportsfanatic.com. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.