By Sanghee Lee] Major League Baseball has a new set of “big brothers. Texas infielder Nate Lowe, 28, and Tampa Bay outfielder Josh Lowe, 25, are brothers.
Nate, the older brother, hit 18 home runs in 2020 and 27 last year. The younger brother, Josh, is showing flashes of potential with 11 home runs this season in his third year in the big leagues.
“It’s been great to see him do so well this season, but it’s not a surprise,” Nate told StarNews recently. “It was just a matter of when, and I always believed he could do well in the major leagues.”
The Lowe brothers were drafted side-by-side by Tampa Bay in the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Josh was a first-round pick (13th overall), while Nate was a 13th-rounder (390th overall).
The contracts were also worlds apart. Nate received $100,000 (about $132.78 million), while Josh received a whopping $2.575 million (about $3.4897 million). The difference in their starting point was staggering: dirt and gold.
While Nate made his major league debut in April 2019, Josh didn’t hit the big leagues until two years later in September 2021.
Once in the majors, their paths diverged. Nate took root as the team’s starting first baseman in 2021, the year he arrived in Texas via trade, hitting .264 with 18 home runs and 72 RBIs in 157 games that year. Last year, he improved even more, hitting .302 with 27 home runs and 76 RBIs.
Younger brother Josh, on the other hand, spent more time in Triple-A after his big league debut. Last year, he also struggled in the majors, batting .221 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 52 games. This year, however, he’s finally playing like a first-round pick. As of March 3, he’s batting .304 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs in 47 games.
“Josh and I work out together in the offseason, and we talk a lot about baseball during the season,” Nate said, adding that his brother recently reached out to him ahead of a matchup with Houston starter Justin Verlander (40) to give him tips on how to handle him.
Since the 2010s, the other big-bat brothers in the majors have been Kyle Seager (36-retired) and Corey Seager (29-Texas). Kyle, a third baseman, 먹튀검증 wore a Seattle uniform from 2011 to 2021 and hit 242 home runs in his 11-year big league career. His younger brother, Corey, is no slouch either. After making his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, he moved to Texas in 2022 and has hit 142 home runs in nine big league seasons. Last year, he hit a career-high 33 home runs.
“We’re excited and honored to follow in the footsteps of the Seager brothers, and just like they did, we’ll be playing in the same game in Tampa Bay in June,” said Nate. “We’re planning to have a big party with our parents, family, and friends in Tampa Bay to make them proud of us.” Texas will host Tampa Bay for a three-game series next weekend, Oct. 10-12.
When asked about his goals for the season, Nate said, “Nothing in particular. I’m just trying to finish the season healthy,” he said, adding, “If there’s one thing I’m disappointed in, it’s that I’d like to hit more home runs than I’m hitting, but other than that, everything else is going well.” Through three days, Nate is batting .275 with five home runs and 32 RBIs in 56 games this season.