Nathaniel Lowe First Rangers Hitter to Bat .300 Since 2016
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ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas first baseman Nathaniel Lowe became the team’s first player in six years to finish a season with a batting average of .300 or better during the Rangers’ season finale against the New York Yankees on Wednesday.
Lowe left the game after two plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with a walk. That gave Lowe a batting average of .302 and made him the first player to hit .300 or better for a season since both Elvis Andrus (.302) and Adrián Beltré (.300) did it in 2016. A player needs 501 at-bats to be considered a qualifier.
Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley hinted before the game that he might pull Lowe early in the game to preserve Lowe’s prospects of hitting .300, having already thought through the math of what a slow start for Lowe on Wednesday might mean to his prospects of hitting .300.
After Lowe walked in the bottom of the third, Beasley made the move to bring in Mark Mathias as a pinch-runner, thus ending Lowe’s season and preserving his batting average.
“He took the next step offensively this season,” Beasley said before the game. “I want to protect him as well.”
Beasley and Lowe spoke on Tuesday night and the manager informed Lowe that was the plan, depending on how things went early in the game.
"I never wanted to get in there and come out, but Beasley said this is what needs to happen for you to not hit .300 and I'm going to take care of that," Lowe said. "Last night we had a pretty good moment in his office, talking about how a lot of hard work comes to fruition and it's an incredible feeling."
Lowe said that coming into the game that he didn't know the Rangers had not had a .300 hitter in six years.
Entering the game the Rangers’ public relations department figured Lowe’s average out to the eighth decimal point — .30067567. At that point, Lowe was 178-for-592, giving him more than enough qualifying at-bats to have a full season batting average.
The Rangers game notes provided a breakdown of what would happen to Lowe’s average in certain situations. If he went 1-for-4 he would hit .3003356. If he went 0-for-4 he would hit .2986578.
Turns out Lowe didn’t need to be managed by Beasley or anyone else. He did his part in the first inning, hitting a ground ball single to right field to push his average up to an in-game total of .302.
Lowe also became the second Rangers player in the last nine seasons to hit at least .300 and hit 25 home runs. Beltré did it in 2014.
Lowe has been the Rangers’ best hitter since the All-Star break. He was the Rangers Player of the Month for August after batting .389/.450/.649/1.098 with seven home runs, five doubles, a triple and 21 RBI. He was also the Rangers’ Player of the Month in April.
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