{"id":524578,"date":"2026-01-17T03:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T03:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/524578\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T03:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T03:54:11","slug":"angels-open-to-playing-josh-lowe-in-center-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/524578\/","title":{"rendered":"Angels Open To Playing Josh Lowe In Center Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Angels added outfielder Josh Lowe<\/a> in last night\u2019s three-team trade that sent reliever\u00a0Brock Burke<\/a> to Cincinnati. General manager Perry Minasian held a Zoom call once the trade was finalized this morning, revealing that Lowe could compete for the center field job.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously had a couple of up-and-down seasons with injuries, but he\u2019s a player we believe can play all three [outfield spots],\u201d Minasian told reporters (including Mart\u00edn Gallegos of MLB.com<\/a>). The GM noted that Lowe\u2019s left-handed bat is a good complement to a lineup that leans very heavily to the right side, especially in the outfield. Even after trading\u00a0Taylor Ward<\/a> early in the offseason, they\u2019d entered the day with an all right-handed projected outfield mix of Mike Trout<\/a>,\u00a0Jorge Soler<\/a>,\u00a0Jo Adell<\/a> and\u00a0Bryce Teodosio<\/a>. The only other lefty-hitting outfielder on the 40-man roster,\u00a0Wade Meckler<\/a>, was just claimed off waivers from San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Lowe has been a right fielder for the majority of his career. He didn\u2019t see any center field action last year and only started two games there in 2024. The Rays lifted him mid-game in both, and he tallied seven combined innings. He has 156 career innings of center field experience. That\u2019s too small a sample on which to glean anything from defensive metrics.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20194\u2033 Lowe has long strides and is an above-average runner underway, but Statcast hasn\u2019t been favorable on his first step reads. Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved have graded him as a slightly below-average right fielder in each of the past two seasons. It\u2019s unlikely that his metrics would improve if he were tasked with playing the outfield\u2019s most difficult position on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

While Lowe fits best in a corner, the Angels don\u2019t have many alternatives. Adell started half their games in center field last season. He graded as one of the worst defensive center fielders in MLB and moved to right field for the final month of the season. Teodosio is a talented defender who has hit .193\/.236\/.287 in 55 career games. Meckler hasn\u2019t made a big league appearance in two years. The Angels could get Trout some center field work<\/a> again in 2026 but prefer him in a corner to keep him healthy.<\/p>\n

Cody Bellinger<\/a> would be a strong roster fit, but there\u2019s no indication the Angels are making a serious effort to add him on a long-term deal.\u00a0Harrison Bader<\/a> could be a more realistic target, albeit as another right-handed bat. Lowe would otherwise probably be their best option at the position, at least until 20-year-old prospect Nelson Rada<\/a> is MLB ready.<\/p>\n

The Angels are aggressive with prospect promotions and had Rada divide his age-19 season between the top two minor league levels. He played well at both stops and could get a look early in 2026. Prospect evaluators praise Rada\u2019s approach, speed and defense. He has minimal power and is coming off a .292\/.398\/.360 slash in the minors.<\/p>\n

Lowe will be looking for a rebound season after slumping to a .220\/.283\/.366 slash across 435 plate appearances in his final year with Tampa Bay. He was an average hitter two years ago and showed an All-Star caliber ceiling in 2023, when he hit .292\/.335\/.500 with 20 homers and 32 steals in 135 games. That\u2019s the only season in which he reached 110 games or 500 plate appearances. Lowe has been hampered by injuries, mostly oblique troubles, over the past two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Angels added outfielder Josh Lowe in last night\u2019s three-team trade that sent reliever\u00a0Brock Burke to Cincinnati. General…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,2179,1397,4,61389],"class_list":{"0":"post-524578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-jo-adell","10":"tag-josh-lowe","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-nelson-rada"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115908422231930187","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}