Lowe headed to Rangers in 6 player trade

*Photo from the Tampa Bay Times*

   The Tampa Bay Rays have traded 1B Nate Lowe along with 1B Jake Guenther and a player to be named later to the Texas Rangers as part of a 6 player trade, according to announcements made by both teams. The Rays are getting IF Oslevis Basabe, C/OF Heriberto Hernandez, and OF Alexander Ovalles, all prospects, in return from the Rangers.

   Lowe, who entered the 2019 season as the Rays 8th ranked prospect, made his major league debut in 2019 as well, playing 71 total games over 2019 and 2020. In 2020 specifically, Lowe hit .224 with 4 homers and 11 RBI in 21 games in 2020, posting a .749 OPS as well. In the 71 career games Lowe has under his belt, he has a .251 average with 11 homers and 30 RBI, averaging a .770 OPS in that time frame.

   Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels likes what he sees in Lowe, saying that "We see him as a very good hitter, good approach with power, hit at every level. I told him to expect competition, but we made this deal anticipating he would win the job and be our first baseman. Offensively, with the approach and power, he has a good combination of skills. I think he is an upgrade at that spot, someone we can grow with."

   Daniels also addressed what led to acquiring Lowe, which was a hole at first base. Daniels said that "First base was an area we were very poor at last year, it was an obvious area to address. We could have gone after it with more of a short-term, stop-gap upgrade. That’s not our preference. We were looking for guys who fit that longer term." 

   Prior to the trade, Basabe was the 20th ranked prospect in the Rangers system, spending the 2019 season at Class A short season Spokane. Hernandez was ranked 24th in the Rangers system, while Ovalles was not ranked in the top 30 prospect list for the Rangers. Hernandez and Ovalles were both with Basabe at Spokane for the 2019 season. 

   Daniels talked about the actual trade itself, saying that "This is just a traditional baseball trade, no financial implications, no buyer or seller. Tampa has a number of players at first base ahead of Nate. They’ve liked some of our younger prospects, as do we. We felt that was an area of depth for us we felt we could trade from. Lowe is a 25-year-old player with six years of runway ahead of him to be a productive member of our team."