Who is he and where did he come from?

He’s Nathaniel Lowe, recently of the Washington Nationals and quite possibly the only American to go by Nathanial since approximately 1872. In fact, he actually went by Nate early in his career, changing it back to his birth name only after his mama yelled at him. The Red Sox just picked him up off the scrap heap after he was designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals and then went unclaimed on the waiver wire.

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What position does he play?

He’s plays first base, which (incoming understatement alert!) has been somewhat of a problem position for the Red Sox ever since Triton Casas’s early season injury.

Is he any good?

Well, you’ve already read the whole “DFA’d by a team that’s 24 games under. 500” thing so you probably already have a guess at what the answer to this question is. Lowe is slashing just .216/.292/.373 this year with 16 homers and his 26.5% strikeout rate is the 26th-highest in baseball. His savant page makes it clear he’s going through his blue period, which is cool if you’re Picasso, less so if you’re a baseball player:

But Lowe has been good before. He even won the Silver Slugger back in 2022, when he blasted 27 homers with the Texas Rangers while slashing .302/.358/.492. He’s always been known for controlling the strike zone, laying off bad pitches, and taking walks. And while this has been the worst season of his career, he’s still managed to show power against right-handed pitchers, hitting 14 homers and 10 doubles in 302 at-bats (though the .312 OBP he carries against righties isn’t too impressive).

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Show me a cool highlight.

Lowe is a baseball brother! His brother Josh is an outfielder with the Tampa Bay Rays, and isn’t above doing annoying little brother things on the field:

But that’s really a Josh Lowe highlight, so here’s another one of Nathaniel blasting a clutch postseason home run:

What’s he doing in his picture of there?

Gazing up into the wild blue yonder and looking for his father, who flew fighter jets in the Navy for 20 years.

What’s his role on the 2025 Red Sox?

It seems pretty clear that he’s going to usurp Abraham Toro as the left side of a first base platoon with Romy Gonzalez. Toro has been abysmal of late, so it shouldn’t be too hard for Lowe to be something of an improvement over there. Maybe Lowe even takes to Fenway’s dimensions and has a mini resurgence down the stretch, which would be nice. Granted, I’m not really expecting that, but it’s worth a shot.