Nathaniel Lowe Today is in the spotlight as Opening Day approaches. The first baseman was the subject of a blockbuster trade after spending the 2024 season with the defending champions, although they did miss the playoffs.

With 94 days left until Opening Day, Sportskeeda will be counting down the days with select players, looking at their past performances and making some predictions on how they might fare in 2025. Lowe will be the next player in the countdown.

Luo Yu Texas Rangers He had a very solid year despite their team’s overall poor performance. He posted 2.8 fWAR and a 121 wRC+ in 140 games. He hit .265 with a very solid .762 OPS.

Lowe won’t become a free agent until after the 2026 season, but the Rangers opted to move him to washington nationals. The Nationals were expected to aggressively pursue the first baseman on the open market, but ultimately walked away from the deal. In return, the Rangers received left-hander Robert Garcia.

Predicting Nathaniel Lowe’s first year with Nationals

Nathaniel Lowe joins a Washington Nationals team that is slowly assembling a group of young, promising players. Lowe joins the Texas Rangers after spending his first two seasons with the team (2020 and 2021). tampa bay rays.

He hit just 16 home runs last season and that number was 15 with the Nationals, so don’t expect Parks to push for an increase in production. In terms of park factors, Globe Life Field and Nationals Park are slightly more hitter-friendly, ranking 10th and 11th respectively among all MLB parks.

Fangraphs expects production to decline slightly. They project a 114 wRC+, .258 batting average, and .347 on-base percentage. The Nationals’ roster doesn’t necessarily offer more protection than the Rangers, so the team likely won’t help Lowe improve.

Fangraphs does expect the power numbers to be slightly better. They are projected to hit two more home runs and improve their slugging percentage to .411 from .401 in 2024. However, this would only result in an expected fWAR of 1.9, which is down from 2024.

Our prediction: Lowe will hit 19 home runs and fit in perfectly with his new lineup. He batted .255 with a .356 on-base percentage, a 119 wRC+ and solid defense with a 2.5 fWAR on the season.