MLB · 1B · Cleveland Guardians
Nathaniel Lowe
B/T L/R · 6' 4" · 220 lb · born Norfolk, VA, USA · age 31 · draft 2016 rd 13 · played 1B 96, DH 47 · MLB debut 2019-04-29
Last 14 days (through 2026-08-31): 11 G · .195 AVG · 1 HR · 7 RBI · .527 OPS
368 plate appearances scored this season His season card →
Scout’s note
Nathaniel Lowe, a 31-year-old first baseman from Norfolk, Virginia, has 937 big-league games, 121 home runs, and a career .775 OPS. His last 11 MLB games — .250 with a .679 OPS — sit a notch below that standard.
Note written · FVR scout (GLM-5.2)
Where he stands
throughAgainst the 382 qualified major-league hitters — 100+ balls in play this season, the same field the boards are chosen out of. Right is better on every row.
- EV95107.876
- Deserved (xVal)0.42279
- Got (aVal)0.41484
- Luck gap (park-adjusted)flipped0.00241
today · 30 days ago, against the 340 men who qualified then · the tick is the midpoint · the number at the right is the percentile, the number beside it the measurement itself.
What he’s paid
ArbitrationA market fact, not an engine read: what a club decided about him, on the season before this one. Figures from Cot’s, as of .
- 2026 salary
- $0.51M
- Tax hit
- $0.51M
- Service time
- 5 yr 145 d
- Options left
- 2 / 3
The deal 1 year $1.8M (2026)
On the sheet: 1 y/$1.75M (26) · agent SportsMeter
After this season, as the sheet has it
| Season | 2027 |
|---|---|
| Cash | Free agent |
| Tax hit | — |
Cash and the tax hit are two different rulebooks and are never subtracted from one another — see the payroll board for his club, Cleveland Guardians.
A second set of books
The same contract, read by MLB Spreadsheets (Ethan Hullihen), as of . We keep two sources on this because one source cannot check itself.
- Tax AAV
- $1.75M
- Guaranteed
- $1.75M
- Term
- 1 yr
- His class
- MiFA
What the sheet prices each season at
| Season | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary | Arb 4 |
A base salary under his own reading, and never subtracted from the cash figure above: a signing bonus lands in one and not the other, so the two disagree on most men without either being wrong. And the sheet does not mark which future seasons are GUARANTEED — a club option and a projected arbitration award are both just a number here, so read past the end of the deal as his forecast rather than as money owed.
Two sources, read a month apart, put this guarantee at the same dollar. That is the check, and it passed.
The tax AAV above is his number under the CBA’s own rulebook, not the average we work out from Cot’s total. On a contract with deferred money the two come apart on purpose — and neither is subtracted from the other.
Collect Nathaniel Lowe
If the signal is right, the cardboard usually finds out later. Current listings:
Nathaniel Lowe cards on eBay →Paid link — as an eBay Partner, FVR earns from qualifying purchases.
Not financial advice. We take positions only after publication — never before. Misses stay on the record.
The Bureau on Nathaniel Lowe
The scouting press, in their own words
The Cleveland Guardians are acquiring Nathaniel Lowe in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds, sources tell ESPN.
Umpire favor
+1.0 net runs over 40 graded games — the zone was kind to the umpire on balance.
The line
Bio & season lines: MLB StatsAPI · refreshed nightly · abbreviations →