Texas Rangers: 4 candidates to hit in the cleanup spot

Texas Rangers’ potential cleanup hitters: 1B Nate Lowe

Acquired in an off-season trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, Nate Lowe has as much raw power in his bat as anyone on this team.

That’s saying a lot when you consider that Joey Gallo one of Lowe’s teammates.

Lowe is projected to win the first base job over Ronald Guzman this spring, which will carve a path to regular playing time that eluded the lefty slugger in Tampa Bay.

The 25-year-old first baseman’s career OPS is .770, which doesn’t pop off the page at first glance.

However, a deeper dive into his statistics suggest a power surge could be imminent.

Lowe’s career .197 ISO and .209 ISO in 2020 are both very good for that metric, which measures a hitter’s raw power ability. A .200 ISO is considered “great” on a scale of .080 to .250.

While Lowe has never hit more than 10 home runs in a season to date, that’s not entirely his fault.

With regular plate appearances in 2021, Nate Lowe could be the middle of the order power threat the Rangers have so desperately needed to pair alongside Joey Gallo.