3 recent Gold Glove winners the NY Mets could view as rebound candidates in 2026

2) Nathaniel Lowe

Nathaniel Lowe is a quiet first base candidate competing a few notches below Pete Alonso in free agency. Another of the non-tendered players last week, he’s someone Rising Apple’s Stephen Parello explored as a low-cost rebound candidate for the Mets to check in on.

Lowe was a Gold Glove winner for the same 2023 Rangers that won the World Series. A year prior, he won a Silver Slugger. This past year he started with the Washington Nationals and ended with the Boston Red Sox. Hitting .228 with 18 home runs, he put up low-quality offensive statistics. Equally as unimpressive was his defense led by an error in the postseason versus the New York Yankees.

Worth 5 OAA in 2023 and 7 in 2024, he took a nose dive with the Nationals this past year at -5. It was much better when he joined the Red Sox at an even 0 which isn’t so terrible all things considered.

Would fans accept going to Lowe at first base instead of the more proven offense Alonso can provide? It would probably mean they need to make a big upgrade elsewhere with the signing of Alex Bregman being the most obvious second-move to make.

Verdict: The Mets risk losing too much offensively and defensively if this is what they go with.