![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/nathaniel-lowe-240x300.jpg\"\/)
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It\u2019s an unexpected end to what\u2019ll go down as a lackluster tenure with the Nats for Lowe, whom Washington acquired from the Rangers over the winter. The Nats sent lefty Robert Garcia<\/a> to Texas in hopes that Lowe, who came to D.C. with two years of club control remaining, could be a multi-year option providing middle-of-the-order punch to a young lineup. It hasn\u2019t gone as hoped, to say the least.<\/p>\n Lowe, 30, was a steady source of production with the Rangers from 2021-24, hitting .274\/.359\/.432 (124 wRC+) with 78 home runs \u2014 including a career-high 27 round-trippers back in 2022. He hasn\u2019t come anywhere near that level of production with the Nationals. In 490 plate appearances, he\u2019s batted just .216\/.292\/.373 with a 26.5% strikeout rate that stands as the highest of his career in a full season. Lowe\u2019s 9.6% walk rate is better than average but still the second-lowest of his career and a ways shy of the 11.3% clip he recorded during that four-year peak with the Rangers.<\/p>\n Lowe hit a grand slam yesterday, his first homer since July 19, but that was just his third hit in the month of August despite regular playing time. He hasn\u2019t had a multi-hit game since July 18 and is batting only .167\/.271\/.294 in his past 36 games (144 plate appearances). The home run yesterday was a big hit but not enough for Lowe to save his job with the Nats.<\/p>\n The Nationals likely explored potential deals for Lowe prior to the trade deadline, but his ongoing slump and fairly hefty $10.3MM salary would\u2019ve served as significant impediments to finding a deal. With the deadline now behind them, the Nats will have no recourse other than to place Lowe on outright waivers or release waivers. At this point, that\u2019s little more than a paper distinction. Lowe crossed five years of major league service time less than a month into the season, meaning he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency and still retain the remainder of that guarantee as he heads to the open market.<\/p>\n All 29 other teams will have the opportunity to claim Lowe, but in light of his immense struggles, it\u2019s hard to see another team claiming the remaining $2.49MM on his contract. If Lowe passes through waivers unclaimed, he\u2019ll become a free agent who can sign with any team. A new team would only owe him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. The Nationals will remain on the hook for the rest of his salary.<\/p>\n If Lowe can catch on elsewhere and return to form, he\u2019d technically remain under club control with that new team through 2026. However, he\u2019d be due a (small) raise on that $10.3MM salary, so he\u2019d need to make quite the impression in the final few weeks of the season in order to convince a new club that he\u2019s worthy of an $11MM+ expenditure. The Nationals were clearly going to non-tender him \u2014 they wouldn\u2019t have made this move if not \u2014 and in all likelihood Lowe will be a free agent in search of rebound opportunities this winter.<\/p>\n The Nats have up to five days to place Lowe on waivers. If they wait the maximum amount of time, that guaranteed salary will drop slightly, to about $2.2MM, but it\u2019s still unlikely that another club would claim that sum.<\/p>\n With Lowe out the door in D.C., the Nats can give increased first base reps to a resurgent Josh Bell<\/a>, which would free up the DH spot to rotate several young players. Alternative options at first bae in the upper minors include Juan Yepez<\/a>, Yohandy Morales<\/a> and Trey Lipscomb<\/a>, though of that trio only Lipscomb is on the 40-man roster \u2014 and both Yepez and Morales have struggled in Triple-A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TODAY: The Nationals announced that they have requested unconditional release waivers on Lowe. AUGUST 14: The Nationals announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,46184,462,46185,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-75085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-dylan-crews","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-nathaniel-lowe","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}