According to Roch Kubatko of MASN, the Orioles are expected to select the contract of outfield prospect Colton Cowser ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Yankees. Baltimore has a full 40-man roster, meaning the club will need to clear space for the youngster before he can join the team. The impending move will put Cowser in line to make his major league debut.
Cowser, 23, was selected by the Orioles with the fifth overall pick in the 2021 draft. After a sensational professional debut late in the 2021 campaign that saw him slash .375/.490/.492 with more walks than strikeouts between rookie ball and Single-A, Cowser entered the 2022 campaign as a consensus top 100 prospect in the sport. He delivered on that promise and then some, advancing from High-A all the way to Triple-A by the end of 2022 while slashing a solid .278/.406/.469 across three levels of the minor leagues.
While Cowser’s 2022 vaulted him up prospect rankings to the point where he entered 2023 as a consensus top 40 prospect in all of baseball, the Orioles opted to take things slowly with the lefty slugger during his age-23 campaign after he slashed just .219/.339/.429 in 124 Triple-A plate appearances last year. In his return to the club’s Norfolk affiliate, Cowser has proven that he’s mastered the Triple-A level: he’s slashed a whopping .330/.459/.537 with a phenomenal 18.7% walk rate in 257 plate appearances at the level this year.
In making his MLB debut, Cowser joins Baltimore’s youth movement that began with the promotion of Adley Rutschman last summer. Since then, the club has seen top prospects Gunnar Henderson, Grayson Rodriguez, Joey Ortiz, and Jordan Westburg all debut in the big leagues. The surge of young talent has helped buoy the Orioles throughout a fantastic first half. The club is currently 49-35, second in a highly competitive AL East division and in the driver’s seat of the AL wild card race.
Going forward, Cowser figures to slot into the club’s outfield mix. With Cedric Mullins entrenched in center field and both Austin Hays (132 wRC+) and Anthony Santander (122 wRC+) having excellent seasons, it seems likely that Cowser’s arrival leaves Aaron Hicks ticketed for a smaller role. The 33-year-old veteran has had a resurgence since joining the Orioles after being designated for assignment by the Yankees earlier this season, slashing .262/.374/.464 in 99 plate appearances with Baltimore. Going forward, Hicks seems likely to fill the reserve outfielder role currently occupied by Ryan McKenna.
This team is the Cubs in 2015… a real threat for 3-4 years IF they can make a big name SP addition in the off-season.
Longer than that. They should be contenders for the better part of the next decade.
We also thought that about the Cubs too…
The Cubs did what fans here want to O’s to do…..
Had a nice core, then traded away quality young prospects for expensive veterans that they extended, and signed free agent veterans to long term contracts. The farm system dried up, the veterans got old too fast and their contracts couldn’t be moved.
The Astros on the other committed to their young players and were patient with them. When their veterans wanted more than they were worth the Astros let them go and promoted the youngsters.
It’s still working while the Cubs have sucked for 4-5 years now.
Tell me about the genius of Theo Epstein. HE was the one tanking.
Every team that can’t, or won’t, spend above the luxury tax line now follows the Rays/Guardians way of doing business. Keep a “competitive “ roster while continuing to trade your players at 5-6 years of service and go after the cheap bounce back deals that can be traded away if they’re not going to make the playoffs
We also thought that about the Cubs too…
Perhaps an Astros comparison is better then, but didn’t want to project that stereotype.
I mean this is the same Astros FO that created the team they are today, so yeah that is very comparable.
Filed under: Things fans believe.
Rarely happens that way.
Thanks Rob Manfred, that’s been showing with how their games have been umped recently costing them about 4 of the last 8.
With FA at six years, the window closes somewhat quickly. Draft picks drop as winning percentage rises. Salaries go up as players get to arbitration. Signing a FA comes with risk (ex: Bauer, Rodon, Ray, E-Rod). Some teams stick to the budget, and it gets squeezed. The future looks bright for Baltimore, but in the short term.
Considering this is the old Astros FO they will be contenders for a long long time!
Get rid of one of the garbage relievers…
You realize two are all stars right?
If you watch the orioles, you’d know that Cano had great numbers until a month ago. He’s been giving up hits and runs way too often since start of June. His total season numbers look good, but he’s no all-star based on last several week. He’s blown the lead in at least half dozen games.
Cano has not given up the lead in half a dozen games. Maybe two.
Gross exaggeration!
You realize there are more than 2 in a bullpen, right? Baker, Baumann, Perez not realiable. Cano has been awful the past 3-4 weeks.
Baker and Baumann are less problems than some others. Starters need to go longer to keep them from being overworked IMO. Cano hasn’t been it of late.
They’re just showcasing him for when they ship him to the Tigers in a deal for Erod 😉
Rental erod is not worth anything near the top 100. Especially to an AL east team where he can’t pitch in any of the stadiums.
There’s not much out there for starting pitchers. If he keeps pitching like he had been before the injury someone will bite. Lots of teams need pitching. Prospects are overvalued. I was joking too. Cowser is not the guy I hope they get….we have some OF and a few more in the queue. A middle IF, 3B or even a long term catcher are more priorities in my opinion.
You most certainly aren’t getting a catching prospect that has any potential for a rental.
1B/OF is far more likely.
Any prospect, that the general fan hasn’t heard of, can be had in a trade, regardless of position. Teams have no clue on where they will be in 3-4 years, but if trading an A ball C gets them the starter they need now, they will do it. Besides, with his two year performance on the Tigers (either on the IL or the restricted list), there is not a guarantee that E-Rod will opt out.
Stroman and Leiter Jr. from the Cubs? Cubs need a 3B prospect who is currently at AA or AAA, they have plenty of OF and a few 1B in their pipeline.
Tigers had their chance. But galaxy brain’d themselves into taking a high school pitcher in one of the most loaded offensive top of the drafts recently
Relief pitching addition(s) a must. I like Pierce Johnson. Didn’t fair well as closer and last appearance was ugly but the 5 previous outings were stellar.
IMO Cano is struggling because he’s going solo as a set up guy. Last year having Bautista and Tate there to get to Lopez was a key to their winning ways. Once Bautista moved to closer there was no one there to compliment Tate. Oof.
Pierce as the other set up guy? And if Bautista gets jurt, stop gap closer albeit a sketchy one. Him for a position player prospect plus Os take on some salary?
C Yards Jeff;
Saw this coming and wrote about it here for 2 weeks…..
The problem with the O’s is not the starting pitching. It’s the relief pitching. They depended too much on Cano and Bautista and were bound to burn them out. None of their other relief pitchers have been consistent…and have usually been bad. If one guy pitches a clean inning – that’s nice – then a guy comes in the next inning, gives up multiple runs, and the O’s are playing from behind.
Relief pitchers are the most volatile players from year to year. Teams have to develop their own – they can’t sign 4-5 relief FA’s each year to multi-year contracts just because they had a good previous year….most go south quickly.
Knowing the O’s couldn’t continue to go with 2 relievers indefinitely was bad. But what was worse was their TV broadcast – the worst in MLB. Almost all of their guys talk so much – they do it non-stop. At one point I realized I was watching a hitter bat but I don’t know who it was because they yakked about nonsense when he came to the plate, and their graphics didn’t show the batters name. Sometimes the Brown guy would say 3 pitches in: “Smith is batting”. This is really bad. This is basic stuff. It shows those people care more about entertainment then keeping the fans informed about the game…..which is why fans tune tune in to watch a game. Totally unprofessional. Real bush league stuff.
The O’s future looks bright once they can develop some pitching. But 2023…..not so much.
@Samuel; Happy 4th!
Yep, that announcer crew is painful to listen too, both TV and radio. When John Angelos took over for his dad back in late 2018, he didn’t just make clear to his administrators to gut player payroll but gut it throughout the business model!
Hey, am I too optimistic on Pierce J? Cheers!
What?! Their broadcast is the best in baseball. No stuffy old announcer voice, just guys like KB, Palmer, and Big Ben having fun and cracking jokes. It is WAY better than the broadcasts of the Nats, Pads, and Braves… I watch those regularly too and often have to mute the game because of the announcers
@KingO, thoughtful post. In hindsight, abit over the top on my criticism of announcer crew. IMO, still in need of a major talent up grade sans Big Ben, HOF Palmer and Scott G.
KingOmar;
It’s terrible. Only Ben can make his point in 15-20 seconds….and I love his southern sense of humor…but he isn’t on much this year. The other guys carry on and on except for one old guy that does TV once in a while.
And it’s not just them. It’s the producers. Every half-inning they seem to have some promotion; endless interviews with someone in the stands; and what used to be called “Information Overload” – i.e. I’m tied of hearing things such as “from August 12th, 2001 the guy on the mound pitching has the 3rd biggest break in his curveball in MLB”. It’s non-stop with that broadcast.
You are correct about most local MLB TV broadcasts (the national ones are worse). My favorites are the Phillies, Astros, Giants (if Kuiper and Krukow are doing the game) and the Royals (if Rex isn’t overdoing it that game). Totally professional. They follow the pace of the game. Quickly make their points without talking over the action. Find some low-key humor that’s actually funny. Make watching the game an enjoyable experience.
Otherwise when I watch the games on MLB.TV I use the audio feed from radio broadcasts. The best there seem to be the Rays, Braves, Giants, Dodgers, Mets and Yankees. Ken Korach of the A’s may be the best play-by-play guy on radio, but this year he’s breaking in a young man and has modified his style a lot as he’s bringing him along. My guess is that Korach is either retiring soon or not moving to Las Vegas with the A’s. He’s been with the A’s for 27 years.
The commonality to all the broadcasters above is that like Vin Skully said – viewers and listeners are tuning in to enjoy the game. Most broadcasters today are busy selling their brand and blitzing the viewers / listeners with crap that’s quickly forgotten. This is surely true of the Orioles TV crew.
Hard for me to say the O’s haven’t worked their magic again on pitchers. Perez hasn’t been very good nor Akin. But that’s to be expected with relievers. I never liked Akin very much to begin with. Run of the mill stuff.
He’s still turned coulombe and cano into gems. They were essentially cast offs. Baumann and Baker are fine middle relievers as well. I think the org needs fresh arms to work with. We’ve avoided drafting pitchers. That limits the talent pool which we’re working with. I think they’ve done a nice job with the talent level of the guys they have:
But i do think that some reliever will be added at this point. Hopefully Tate gives us a boost but we need some depth so we aren’t giving so many innings to the other guys. A starter is desperately needed also. Can’t go with the options we have for the 5 slot. Foolish to expect that all of our young arms will be able to hold up pitching more innings than they’ve ever done either. If they do—great but I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying so.
Kevin Brown is top notch. Love Jim Palmer and Ben as color analysts. Geoff Arnold is very good, too. Even Brett Hollander is good at his job. The only weak spot is Melanie Newman; she does not know the game of baseball and it shows. Put a script in front of her and keep her far far away from PBP.
OK, Scott sucks.
The “one old guy” is Hall of Famer Jim Palmer who has been a broadcasting treasure locally and nationally for decades. Learn his name or expose your ignorance of baseball.
Akin might have made a serviceable LOOGY back in the day.
That jury is still out. Their mistake was signing Baez. You can’t preach controlling the strike zone at the plate when you pay top dollar to someone who swings at anything and seldom makes contact.
O’s have gotten this far mainly with great gloves and good hitting in higher leverage situations. They need a consistent starting rotation, but personally I think they should be patient on that front. You do have plenty of good prospects that you can deal for rotation pieces but you should probably have at least 3 established consistent starters before you think about dealing from the farm. I would see far you get with what you have this year then come offseason really get into making moves in free agency or trades.
GRod and Means will be back soon.
scruffmcgruff;
Rule #1 on Pitchers…..
If your coaches can’t develop your own, then bringing in established pitchers only works as long as they’re in their zones. Once they gets out of it – which is normal over a season – and need to be recalibrated, the coaches are ineffective and the pitchers are inconsistent.
–
Teams with good pitching coaches and philosophes – the Rays, Astros, Braves, Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees, Padres, maybe now Rangers* – can acquire a messed up pitcher and most times straighten him out. The Orioles coaching has been uneven with pitchers. Last year they did a nice job. This year not so much.
* Cleveland has an excellent pitching program, but they prefer to work with guys that came up through their farm system.
Rangers not so much, heavy regression since the pitchers left their zones about a month ago, they could still bounce back though, definitely not sold on them being able to reform yet.
Hicks being an ex-Yankee, he will probably be a durable and highly productive player for the balance of his career.
Agreed. And I disagree with this article saying he will be getting less playing time. Santander gets more playing time at first. IMO, Mountcastle is odd man out. Predicting his DL stint goes to the 60 day.
I think you are probably correct about Mounty
And don’t get me wrong, I’m a Mounty fan through-n-through. IMO, change of scenery would do him a lot of good … just so he lands in the NL somewhere.
Mountcastle has been playing for over a week in Norfolk.
How does being an ex-Yankee translate into becoming “duraboe” or “highly productive” for the rest of his career? That’s the stupidest comment I have read on this site in months. And indefensible…
Faaaak….
– bewildered Sox fan
Wow wonder what they were waiting for. Perhaps avoiding super 2 status…..
Hopefully one day the Orioles decide to stop pinching pennies and put some financial backing into what is clearly a very good team. You did the rebuild its going well now its time to take that next step.
Goldschmidt for Cowser sounds pretty good to me.
I’m sure it does.
Why would the Orioles do that? They have too many bats as it is, so whenever they move a few prospects it’ll be for a pitcher.
Mountcastle isn’t that good. Goldschmidt is last years MVP and he’s playing well.
You don’t want an MVP candidate????
It’s better to keep the platoon together until Kjerstad is ready.
Cardinals fans been off their rockers ever since they couldn’t get the second coming of Holliday.
I’m not an Orioles fan so it doesn’t matter what I want for them to do, but that just wouldn’t make sense for them
I suggested us trading you an MVP CANDIDATE and all you can do is talk about prospects.
This is insane. It truly is.
In what world does replacing Mountcastle and his sub 700 OPS and negative WAR with an MVP candidate not make sense for them?????
Seriously. What on earth are you guys talking about????
Offense needs a spark. I think their rotation is much better than given credit for. No, they don’t have a shutdown “ace” but Wells and Bradish have been very good as of late. Bullpen seems to have lost a step and the bats have been the biggest issue the past week or so. Mullins, Hays, Mounty all missing time hasn’t helped. Tough to say what this team will do at the deadline. Hoping Cowser brings some life to this lineup. This team needs the all star break asap
I wish we’d pull up DL Hall and let him rip in the pen. Guy isn’t a starter. Let’s see what he has out of the pen. Clearly guys like Gillespie & Vespi don’t have it.
Actually Vespi DOES have it. Sure, he gave up a dinger today, but he had three scoreless innings just a couple days ago and was good last year except from one appearance. It’s guys like Akin, Zimmerman, and Gillaspie that don’t have it. Don’t lump Vespi in with that group.
DL Hall hasn’t pitched in a game in 3 weeks. He’s not on any roster.
Yep, he is in Sarasota doing weight training and conditioning, DL experienced back problems in the offseason that set him behind,
What will be the OF going forward when Hays is back?
Mullins, Hays, and Cowser. Santander will see time at DH and maybe 1st when Adley is DH. Most likely Hyde tries to schedule Adley to DH against lefties if possible to get O’Hearn in at 1st against righties.
What about Mountcastle?
It is unsure whether Mountcastle will return before Hays.
Goldschmidt and Montgomery for Cowser who says no?
Probably the Orioles because they are too cheap to pay those salaries.
Cowser would be an excellent fit the for the Cardinals.
Orioles clearly need pitching. Starting the clock on all these young prospects doesn’t make sense if you don’t make a couple of deals to get some arms.
Agreed. But they shouldn’t trade prospects for them when the can buy them in the offseason. Someone like Luis Severino would be a good fit as I don’t see the Yankees resigning him.
Why didn’t they buy them last offseason?
Orioles fans have a right to feel frustrated with the front office not spending money.
There was no one available for a realistic price this past offseason. The only ones who have been worth their deals have been Wacha, Eovaldi, and Bassitt (mostly).
That doesn’t justify the teams lack of spending.
They’re playing well in a stacked AL East so O’s fans should be happy. We’ll see what they do in the offseason. The Yankees are an aging team. RS are probably going to repeat this season. Rays have guys getting expensive through arb and may trade pieces. Jays have their own issues.
So you’re saying that while basically none of the free agents from this class are playing well, the orioles still should have spent just to spend and come away with worse players than they have right now?
What?!?! Everything you say is demonstrably stupid. The lack of spending was the right call. Aside from 3 bad starts, Gibson has been worth the $10m. Though his average isn’t good, Frazier’s contact rate and surprising power have been worth the $8M. They spent on Givens and he’s…. Cooked.
You don’t spend just to spend. That’s foolish. The SP market was nuts, way overpriced for glass pitchers. Glad they abstained.
Omar
Givens, agreed. Done. They threw money down a hole there.
Frazier is a bit of an improvement over the gaping hole otherwise known as Roughned Odor, but he’s not much. Worth $8 million? They can do better.
Gibson is a below average innings eater, a back end of the rotation guy on a competent pitching staff, but the anchor on the Orioles. They spent $10 million on him and the garbage named Irvin was their other big pickup. They could have done better nearly by default (unless they would have held onto Lyles, wow I wasn’t paying attention but he’s nearly as bad as Irvin).
The problem is, on a supposed contending team they haven’t made the moves to fill in the gaps and these guys (and Mateo) are the ones dragging down the team.
Someone came to me elsewhere with “well the 1983 Orioles had Dempsey, Dauer, and Cruz, and they couldn’t hit”. Yes, but they had the best 2 players in the league in Murray and Ripken, the other 4 spots in the lineup were above average, they had a top 3 rotation and an excellent bullpen. That’s why they pulled ahead in August and dominated in September and October. Not seeing that in 2023.
Tell me where Baltimore was in attendance last year, when you claim the fans have a right to feel frustrated. The TV revenue has been in escrow while they hashed out the split with DC. Payroll will always be based on revenue, not wishful thinking. They have the lowest payroll in the division, and are 14 above .500! The fans should be ecstatic.
Start Cowser everyday in RF and send Santander to 1B/DH.
Start Westy/Gunnar/Ortiz everyday at 2B/SS/3B in whatever order you want and send Mateo to the bench.
LFG BABY BIRDS!!!!
Heston can buy you a bullpen from Detroit.
And a couple starters…..
The Tigers should offer the Orioles’ head of the scouting the GM job in Detroit.
Teams don’t trade middle of the order bats with 30-40 homer power for relief pitchers.
Teams do trade prospects though which is what he is. 30-40 HRs is a projection that he might never reach. Lange for instance will bring back a quality prospect.
Lange is not available. Lets talk Cisnero, or Shreve.
Ok, but it won’t be Kjerstad in a 1 for 1 deal.
People’s reading comprehension astounds me……
Haha, you’re right. Sorry. I’m sure I’ll get worse before I get better…
No thanks. Kjerstad is untouchable. And I don’t say that about most prospects, but he fits the bill. Near Future MOO.
me in 1976: it must be fun to be a reds fan
me in 1979: it must be fun to be an orioles fan
it’s like my childhood all over again!
OF Colton Cowser
2B Connor Norby
C Maverick Handley
RHP Justin Armbruester
That package should bring back Dylan Cease.
Ryan O’Hearn can play 1B while Ryan Mountcastle is out. When Mountcastle returns, someone has to go.
I would love to see Ryan McKenna and Terrin Vavra in Detroit.
I predicted Michael Lorenzen would end up in either Baltimore or St Louis but I rarely get my predictions right.
Colton Cowser, an equine/bovine nomenclatural phenom!
Sure to sport galloping speed and cud-chawin’ power!!
This team should be fun to watch for a long time. Loaded with talented players and Holliday is still lurking in the minors.
They could use some rotation help for sure, but if I were their GM for a day I would protect this young core and try to sign supplemental pieces.
We have seen what big spending spree teams feel when you look at the Mets and Padres. They need to follow the Braves and Rays model and they will be a powerhouse if they play their cards right.
They are following the Astros model!
Umm, they really aren’t.
Man the orioles minors are stacked. They drafted so well the past 5/6 years. Took that Chris Davis contract on the chin(worst contract in major league history?) they could even make a move for Ohtani at this stage but I wouldn’t advice losing your prospects. Great to see
Cease is also ARB 2 next season so no, the Orioles wouldn’t do that deal.
Package a deal for Giolito,Sox might bite… package a lesser deal for Goldschmidt, “mature” bat in with the kids, and effective arm in with the up n downers
Jus Sayin’
They are not trading for goldschmidt and his contract to waste a year of Kjerstad.
They will not trade for a 7th #3 starter either.
When is John Means supposed to be back from his TJS? He was pitching like a solid #2/3 prior to getting hurt. As a NYY fan, I wouldn’t mind seeing them trade for E-Rod. I don’t think he’ll be worth whatever the cost ends up being. Last thing I’d like to see them do is trade for Burnes from Milwaukee, and the sign a guy like Urias or Nola in the off season. Their young position player’s all seem to be legit quality MLB talent. But you can’t win in October if you don’t have a true #1-Ace at the top of the rotation.
ok folks…
Great to see them bring Cowser up. In terms of them keeping Cowser in the minors earlier and picking up Hicks instead I believe they would have brought up Cowser when Mullins got hurt.
But they’ll need to play Cowser. They brought up Ortiz and played him once a week. Not fair to judge what Ortiz is based on that little bit of time.
This is a sub .500 team since around Memorial Day, folks…not the team that started 19-9 and feasted on an easy schedule. They are not playing as well as their overall record indicates (starting pitching mostly awful, key relievers beginning to tire, not getting on base as much and striking out more) but I don’t think they’re as bad as the last 30-35 games have been. Right now this is a slightly above .500 team but not a playoff team.
Will Mountcastle – who doesn’t walk and strikes out a ton – really help them a lot when he’s healthy? If Cowser sticks, you have O’Hearn and Santander who can fill in at 1B and Kjerstad is lighting it up at AAA.
Some of the surplus at OF/1B can be traded for pitching, which is needed in a huge way. Relief depth as well as competent starting pitching. As I posted earlier Grayson Rodriguez is probably an improvement on Irvin but maybe not much more than that at the moment. The team cannot possibly think it can contend trotting garbage like Irvin and Gibson out there to follow with tired relievers?
Those counting on Means to pick up where he left off after TJ to be the complete difference? I know something was made legal in MD on 7/1…
To me that says more than anything else, if they don’t trade for pitching and give up a medium prospect in the mix in July they’re not serious about contending this year and will not be surprised if they fade to .500 by October. They’re not that far up on NYY and Jays.
Thats cool, every team plays the same schedule now, and those with better records will always have weaker strengths of schedule because they are putting other teams down the column.
If you exclude a slow last 10 days (hint you won’t because your narrative is just dooming and posting on day old posts to try to blow smoke) They are 16-10 in your little sample there.
You can pick any number of teams that have been off over a 10 day span.
Oh and they are .500 since memorial day, if you’re going to so confidently spew falsehoods you should make sure they are true.
Kirstin
1. I clearly said “around Memorial Day” and they are 17-18 since Friday May 26.
2. That is not a small sample size. That’s 35 games, nearly half of the season played.
3. Not everyone plays the same schedule now. Its better but still a division heavy schedule. The Orioles missed the playoffs versus Cleveland last year because they didn’t get 19 games x 4 against the little sisters of the poor. “every team plays the same schedule” is false.
4. I don’t look at the past 10 days, didn’t even mention.
Thanks for playing though.
You also can’t discount parts of the season that don’t agree with your narrative. I took into account the whole season in saying they are a team playing like they are a few games above .500. Like I said, they’re not at a 17-18 level. Not 19-9 either. This is an 84 to 86 win team….they can get to that total by starting 50-35 just like they could starting 35-50. I’ve seen the Orioles go 67-95 after starting 63-63 (2002) and 31-50 (1987)
Let me also put this out there again:
Mateo since May 1 is hitting .148 with a .195 OBP, just 5 doubles in his last 161 PA. 1 for his last 22. That’s not a small slump, that’s 50 games. We may as well bat a pitcher for him.
I don’t care what he can do with his glove. He’s driven in 10 runs and scored 16 in that span. He’s left way more a deficit on offense than he makes up for with defense.
The team needs baserunners, hits, walks, and runs. It doesn’t need a pitcher batting (unless its Ohtani)