A-Lowe-ha Nathaniel the Nat

[JCA-CrystalCity]

FWIW, in his last 15 (61 PAs) games he's hitting .211 with a .648 OPS and 2 HRs.

yah, there's a problem when you toss in an 0-4 day when you deal with 57 /61PA samples. It's possible that the month stretch I mentioned could go south again with a bad week.

[GataNats]

This kid is only 29 years old but his stats have fallen off an absolute cliff. He went from being a slightly above average hitter for many years in a row to a literal below replacement player. The Nationals almost HAVE to bet that he will bounce back in some way next year.

Guy is eating himself out of the league.   Get rid of him

[aspenbubba]

Why don’t they DFA Lowe when Crews is brought back from the IL. He contributes nothing and there wasn’t enough interest at the deadline to make a trade. If they don’t do it now I agree that we need to non- tender him as his value is as low as it can get.

[IanRubbish]

Why don’t they DFA Lowe when Crews is brought back from the IL.

Play the contract.

[Slateman]

Why don’t they DFA Lowe when Crews is brought back from the IL. He contributes nothing and there wasn’t enough interest at the deadline to make a trade. If they don’t do it now I agree that we need to non- tender him as his value is as low as it can get.

You may as well keep him and see if next season being a contract year motivates him enough to get something in trade at next year's deadline

[welch]

Bench Lowe until he loses that beer belly. Play Bell at 1B and use Lile at DH when Crews gets back.

[tomterp]

Bench Lowe until he loses that beer belly. Play Bell at 1B and use Lile at DH when Crews gets back.

Haha, so we let Bell model the ideal 1st baseman's body?

 

[Slateman]

Yea, benching Lowe in favor of Bell because of physical conditioning is hilarious

[welch]

Haha, so we let Bell model the ideal 1st baseman's body?
 

Nope. We let Bell play 1B because he can hit with power. We sit Lowe because he cannot hit and he is not a weonder-worker in the field. Maybe he might hit if he gets into shape. Maybe he stops the one he slapped at today.

[varoadking]

Nope. We let Bell play 1B because he can hit with power. We sit Lowe because he cannot hit and he is not a weonder-worker in the field. Maybe he might hit if he gets into shape. Maybe he stops the one he slapped at today.

Other than Bell's walks...they appear to be the same player...

.222/.289/378/.667 15HR's

.227/.322/.383/.705 13HR's

[Natsinpwc]

Other than Bell's walks...they appear to be the same player...

.222/.289/378/.667 15HR's

.227/.322/.383/.705 13HR's

Neither has missed a meal. I suspect they are stealing food from Jacob and a couple others.

[Slateman]

Neither has missed a meal. I suspect they are stealing food from Jacob and a couple others.

[Natsinpwc]

Why can’t he hit more home runs. The fatties have more home runs.

[nobleisthyname]

Why can’t he hit more home runs. The fatties have more home runs.

He has no bat speed to speak of. Continuing with the idea that Bell and Lowe are clones of each other offensively, they both have identical bat speed averages of 72.7 MPH this season (61st percentile). Jacob Young is at 68.5 for the season. Not sure what that is percentile wise since for some reason he's not listed as being qualified on Baseball Savant but last season he was basically the same with 68.2 which was good for 7th percentile.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Idk. I look at Bell and think he's much more of a V than Lowe right now (big shoulders and chest and less of a waist). That said, I am surprised just how weak Lowe's D has been and his inability to draw walks. Walks and OBP were supposed to be part of his game. They disappeared this year along with the D.

Fwiw, there's kind of an explanation for Bell's poor start and better numbers more recently. He says he changed his approach after trying to hit for more power and elevation, and the video shows stance and swing adjustments. I wonder if Lowe has been trying to hit more for power and messed himself up.

[nobleisthyname]

I wonder if Lowe has been trying to hit more for power and messed himself up.

I haven't checked the stats since my original comment to see how much they've changed but I think this is what happened:

Looking at his underlying stats the only things that really jump out to me are his walk rate and BABIP are significantly lower than previous years. Everything else (hard hit rate, barrel rate, K%) are all basically the same as his career norms.

Lower BABIP suggests less grounders, and sure enough his GB% is the lowest of his career and he's hitting more fly balls instead. I think he's pressing like Bell was to start the season to hit more homers and be a middle of the order power bat.

[blue911]

Idk. I look at Bell and think he's much more of a V than Lowe right now (big shoulders and chest and less of a waist). That said, I am surprised just how weak Lowe's D has been and his inability to draw walks. Walks and OBP were supposed to be part of his game. They disappeared this year along with the D.

Fwiw, there's kind of an explanation for Bell's poor start and better numbers more recently. He says he changed his approach after trying to hit for more power and elevation, and the video shows stance and swing adjustments. I wonder if Lowe has been trying to hit more for power and messed himself up.

Isn’t that Cole’s job?