What Does Josh Lowe Bring to Anaheim?
January 18, 2026 - Written by Jack Argent
OFFICIAL: The Angels have acquired OF Josh Lowe from the Tampa Bay Rays as part of a three-team trade.
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) January 16, 2026
In the deal, the Rays will receive minor league RHP Chris Clark from the Angels and INF/OF Gavin Lux from the Cincinnati Reds, who will acquire LHP Brock Burke. pic.twitter.com/JpGl1CpfT2
This past Thursday, the Angels arch rival Los Angeles Dodgers grabbed this week’s offseason headlines by inking four-time all star Kyle Tucker to a 4-year $240M deal. However, around the same time as the Tucker signing, ESPN’s Jeff Passen broke the news of a three team trade involving the Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati Reds, and Tampa Bay Rays. The trade would involve the Angels sending left-handed reliever Brock Burke to the Reds and unranked prospect Chris Clark to the Rays. Meanwhile, the Reds sent second baseman Gavin Lux to the Rays while the Angels received outfielder Josh Lowe from the Rays. This brings us to the topic of discussion: what Angels fans need to know about Josh Lowe and what he can bring to the organization.
A Much Needed True Lefty Bat
In 2025, most of the Angels batting lineups would consist of most hitters being right handed with the exception of left-handed first baseman Nolan Schuanel and switch hitters Yoán Moncada and Luis Rengifo. This would put some limitations on what the Angels could offensively because it created the inability to do things such as platoon a right-handed bat for a left handed-bat to take advantage of a right-handed reliever. It also made it easier for opposing teams to have plenty of fresh righty arms to deploy at the Angels lineup in order to avoid giving the Halos favorable righty hitter vs lefty pitcher matchups. Therefore, despite the injury concerns, Josh Lowe can submit himself as a lefty presence to bring balance to the Angels lineup. And throughout his career, Lowe has put together a respectable slashline of .266/.450/.772 against right-handed pitching. In addition, Lowe hit 93% of his home runs against righties as well 84.7% of his doubles coming against right-handed arms. This acquisition gives the Angels the option to use Lowe as both a starting corner outfielder and a bench bat for important ABs against right-handed relievers.
A Change of Scenery
Even though the “change of scenery” narrative is a very common occurrence in pro sports, this scenario can be a huge turning point towards Josh Lowe’s ability to resurge himself back to his 2023 form. Based on his career home and away splits, Lowe posted a .239 average, .371 slugging percentage, and a .670 OPS in home games. Meanwhile, his away game numbers spike to the tune of a .259 average, .451 slugging percentage, and a .764 OPS. Despite the obvious concern with Lowe at the moment being his inability to stay on the field, another area that can help Lowe regain form is playing home games at a new ballpark. Sometimes hitters need things like a new batter’s eye or different stadium atmosphere to create a period of sustainable success. So, maybe Lowe getting away from the gimmick-filled Tropicana Field and Steinbrenner Field is exactly what he needs to get his career back up and running again.
Clears The Need to Rush Nelson Rada to The Majors
After the Taylor Ward trade, the questions of what outfielder will come in to replace him was a common topic brought up within the front office. Therefore there is a lot of speculation that the Angels would bring up 20 year old top outfield prospect Nelson Rada, (who also hits left-handed) up to the big club to see time in left field. However, the Josh Lowe acquisition allows for Rada to continue his development at the Triple-A level and fine tune the areas of his game. Furthermore, this ensures that Rada can earn complete trust of the coaching staff to ensure himself as MLB ready when the time arises. With a three team deal, there can always be question marks about if an acquired acquisition was worth acquiring. In Lowe’s case the keys to prove his worth is by staying healthy, bringing a strong lefty bat, and a new spark of energy to support Mike Trout and the new young core of players.
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