The Rangers shouldn’t answer the suddenly available nostalgia call at first base

With the Texas Rangers' season going sideways for a while now, it's natural for fans to want to turn to a familiar face to try and make things better. Unfortunately, while World Series hero Nathaniel Lowe is suddenly available, he's someone the team should stay far away from for multiple reasons.

Lowe was Designated for Assignment by the Washington Nationals on Thursday, and there were plenty of Rangers fans almost immediately talking about a return to Globe Life for the popular slugger. Lowe was traded in the offseason for reliever Robert Garcia. While some Texas fans might regret that trade, considering the recent struggles of the reliever, there simply isn't a fit for Lowe in his old stomping grounds. At least not this season.

The Texas Rangers should stay far away from Nathaniel Lowe

Reason No. 1 as to why the Texas Rangers don't need and shouldn't want Lowe is that he's having a truly terrible season. Lowe's .216/.292/.373/.665 slash line represents career lows across the board. They're even lower than his 2020 season, when he only played in 21 games for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Even when Lowe doesn't put up eye-popping numbers, he's got good analytics. Entering 2025, he'd had four straight seasons where he posted a 2.3 WAR or better. However, this year, he's currently posting his first negative WAR (-0.4). Still, his struggles aren't the only reason he's not a fit for the Rangers.

There's also the fact that there simply isn't room. Between Jake Burger, Rowdy Tellez, and Joc Pederson, there isn't room on the roster, even if the team actually had room under the luxury tax cap. Even with as bad as Pederson has been for most of the season, cutting him isn't an option as he's under contract through the 2026 season. Tellez hasn't been great either, but he's a known commodity over what Lowe has done this year.

Lots of Texas Rangers fans would love to see Nathaniel Lowe back in uniform, but it wouldn't be a good move for numerous reasons.