Advertisement
This is member-exclusive content
icon/ui/info filled

sportsRangers

Lowe-down: Brothers Nathaniel, Josh to live childhood dream in crucial Rangers-Rays series

Both are finding success in their own unique ways on the two best teams in MLB.

She was like some sort of crazed fantasy baseball manager.

Wendy Lowe called her son, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, earlier in the week wanting – needing – to know who would be pitching this weekend when the Rangers visited Tampa Bay. Left-handers? Which days? It was almost as if she had money riding on it.

Nah. Even more than that.

Advertisement

This weekend will actually be a fantasy turned reality for Wendy, her husband David and close to 100 family and friends. This will be the long-awaited, once-postponed Lowe-down. Nathaniel at first for the Rangers and his younger brother, Josh (Joshua, when Wendy is speaking), playing the outfield for the Rays. At least the day or days the Rangers start a right-hander.

Rangers

Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.

Or with:

That was the one catch. In the Rays’ platoon-heavy lineup Josh Lowe, a lefty hitter like his older brother, plays only against right-handers. The Rangers are starting lefties on Friday (Andrew Heaney) and Sunday (Martín Pérez).

“You are killing me,” Wendy Lowe said with a laugh when informed of the Rangers’ rotation this week.

Advertisement

She may be the one opposing fan who would have loved to see Jacob deGrom pitch.

Then she got serious.

Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (second from left), his girlfriend, Brenna (left), his...
Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (second from left), his girlfriend, Brenna (left), his mother, Wendy (second from right), and his brother, Josh.(Lowe family)
Advertisement

A year ago, the Lowes had hoped for the brotherly baseball fest, but it was postponed. Twice. Josh Lowe was sent down to Triple-A Durham when rosters were trimmed in May. He returned to the big leagues in June but was optioned back out after the trade deadline and didn’t return. When the Rangers went to Tampa in September, it was great to see Nathaniel thriving. But a mom is a mom. She wants to share pride in both kids equally.

The wait has only made the reunion more intriguing. It takes place with both kids flourishing. The Rays have the best record in baseball and Josh, in his first full season in the majors, is destroying right-handers and flirting with a .900 OPS. Nathaniel, the reigning AL Silver Slugger first baseman, is the No. 3 hitter on the team with the second-best record in the majors and cruising along with an .800 OPS.

“We are thrilled,” said Wendy, who now has a custom split jersey to support the boys. “Last year was frustrating. But we always said it was always on God’s timing. And here it is. I couldn’t have dreamed for something like this.”

The boys are different.

Nathaniel, who turns 28 in July and is three years older than Josh, has always been a little more brash and adventurous. He’s quick with a one-liner or a blunt opinion. Josh is a little more cautious and reserved.

The perfect illustration of the difference, Wendy said, came when Nathaniel was 13 years old. He had gotten into bike riding. Built a ramp in the front yard, cruised down a hill outside their Marietta, Ga., home, tried to jump the ramp and ended up face first in the pavement. Josh saw it and called out to Wendy, who was inside making dinner. She arrived to find her son, thankfully wearing a helmet, in a concussed state. After that, Josh really didn’t care about riding bikes.

“Joshua is a little more reserved with his adventures,” she said. “Nathaniel goes to the next level. He takes it to the extreme. He would do things first, and then Josh would decide he didn’t want to do it.”

But Josh did want to play baseball. In fact, Josh surpassed Nathaniel as a prospect when he was in high school. Nathaniel went undrafted out of high school and went off to Mercer University, then junior college before landing at Mississippi State, where all future Rangers first basemen go to school, it seems. At the time Nathaniel was finishing up his junior season at Mississippi State, Josh was blooming into one of the top talents in baseball-rich Georgia. The Rays made him the 13th overall pick in the draft. They took Nathaniel in the 13th round.

Advertisement

They ended up as teammates in 2017 at low Class A Bowling Green and again for part of a season at Class A Charlotte (Fla.) in 2018. Nathaniel tried to play big brother. Josh may have been the bigger prospect, but Nathaniel had already gone through the trials of advanced competitive baseball.

He tried to help Josh ... by telling him what to do. That went about as you’d expect. They’ve since found a happier medium. Or at least baseball talk no longer turns into a wrestling match. They save that for the golf course, where Nathaniel is a 3.5 handicap, Josh a 4. But somehow the last time they played, Nathaniel insisted he get strokes. It’s a big brother thing. Back to baseball.

“I crossed boundaries when we played together,” Nathaniel said. “I thought I’d seen it and done it and I’d tell him how to do it. Actually, it was more of me falling on my face. That’s a better way to say it. Then we would butt heads. I’ve tried to get to a point where I don’t want to impede his progress. I don’t want to tweak something that will set him back. I feel like he’s done a good job of doing it on his own.”

Said Josh: “It might just be one of those things of not wanting to listen to your sibling when you should. He’s got a Silver Slugger and I don’t, so there is that. I think it’s been important to listen to things and hear his perspective. It’s helped. He talks when he needs to and he listens, too.”

Advertisement

The pair spend much of the offseason together in Florida, working out together and playing golf (or arguing about it). Josh has come to really admire Nathaniel’s work ethic, part of which Nathaniel picked up from a season around Marcus Semien. Josh said Nathaniel always “has a purpose.”

We assume it’s not to simply get under the skin of his little brother.

Anyway, the two will meet as opponents on a baseball field for the first time this weekend. Their parents will be on hand. It will be a matchup between the two best teams in the majors at the moment.

What more could they ask for?

Advertisement

“Well, I do hope he gets on, just so we can try a pick-off throw and I can smack him with the glove,” Nathaniel said.

Well, there’s that.

On Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

Related Stories
View More
Advertisement

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.