Tony-OH

Yep, he was certainly ready pitching wise. Let's hope this was a cramping situation from dehydration on a hot, steamy night in Norfolk!

When was the last time it ended up on the best case scenario for the Orioles a situation like this? I'm not panicking because it's not like he grabbed his side like Bleier did. But I'm an Orioles fan at heart, and I know that we're not allowed to have nice things!

To this day I feel like this trade was a last gasp by Duquette to regain control that he lost after his the Toronto situation. He probably felt if somehow, some way Parra can make a difference and the Orioles sneak into the wild card, he would look like a genius again. instead, it backfired in the must extraordinary way by Parra being awful with the Orioles and Davies becoming a solid starter for a number of years, albeit pitching in the NL Central vs the AL East.

True, it could have been an elbow or God help us all, a shoulder.

We are Orioles fans. We are not allowed nice things!

They're reporting right lat strain. That's probably at least 2 months! Yuck!

Who cares what all scouting reports you saw said? I'm not trying to be obtuse but I dont understand your comments at all. I'm speaking of facts right now. Nothing I said was wrong. I know scouting is not an exact sceince, but I said "As of now" it appears that picked the wrong underslot. As of right now, that's facts. I also said this is early. I didn't say Cowser was a miss yet, but I pointed to the statsitical facts of the situation at hand. Fralick may not end up better than Cowser and they both may end up 4th outfielders, but at the end of the day, Cowser has been a disappointment this year and when you add it to other Elias/Sig 1st overall selections, I'm not the Orioles have gotten a ton of bang fo the buck for the incredible amount of losing they've occurred under this rebuild.

Another Elias double!

Wow, that pretty crazy.

The absolute worse trade that Duquette made. It was an internal scouting error by the team's scouts at the time who felt he was a swingman, middle guy at best. Dumb 'ol me was the guy who kept saying he was underrated.

That's funny, but that's what happened.

While it's still early, it is safe to say that Cowser's start to his 2022 season has been a major disappointment. I like to look how players are adjusting and while Aberdeen significantly favors pitchers, Cowser has struggled more than anyone would have thought since he was considered such an advanced hitter coming out of the draft. As you know, the new minor league play one team for six days then get Monday off so let's look at his last three series (plus one game last night). Over this period he slashing .234/.402/.359/.762 with a 16 to 23 BB to K ratio. The previous three series he slashed .240/.406/.380/.786 with a 13 to 19 BB to K ratio. So basically it looks to me like he's kind of stagnated as a low power, low average guy who has drawn walks to provide value. The other issue that stands out is he's really struggled against lefties this year slashing .154/.306/.180/.486 with 8 BB and 21 Ks in 49 PAs. Not a lot to get excited about so far this year and his selection along with the overslot money saved mainly going towards Creed Willems should have fans questioning the scouting and selections of the Elias regime. Even forgetting how well Jordan Lawler was doing before going on the IL with a back injury, OF Sam Frelik who was drafted 10 picks later and cost 900k less than Cowser is already in AA after slashing .291/.391/.456/.847 in A+ where Cowser is struggling. So even if you wanted to go underslot, it appears they picked the wrong underslot outfielder as of this moment in 2022. The Orioles really need to see Cowser pick it up.

Well, first off he's not a five tool guy. Honestly, I'm not sure what his plus tool would be. He's got a slightly below average arm, and he's maybe an average runner. Defensively he fits in left field. His game power has been below average outside of his April start which included home runs off a position player. After his flaming hot April, he slashed .212/.310/.353/.663 in 102 May PAs with a 7 to 23 Walk to K ratio. If you go back to April 21st after his first seven games of the season where he was killing it, he's slashed .207/.331/.333/.664 in his last 138 PAs. So honestly, if you take away his red hot start for the first seven games of the season, he really hasn't hit that well in AA. He's lucky really no on behind has stepped up much this season or he'd fall lower.

I'm going to start quoting the current rankings so we can look back to see how they changed!

I would not doubt this as well which is why after the All-Star break unfortunately could be the time he brings him up. Saying that, if he keeps dominating, I think once he thinks he has super 2 avoidance in the bag, he'll bring him up.

I've never seen a batter hit on more two strike counts than Rutschman. It's almost like every at bat, even in the minors. The guy can start 0-2 and end up 3-2 though. He's usually a tough at bat but he's not much on Ambushing pitches early very often. He looks for his pitch and if it's not there early, he doesn't swing even if they are strikes. He's very confident hitting with two strikes, but in the majors, he's going to find pitchers don't make as many mistakes and he'll need to hit pitch that may not perfect and they may come earlier in an at bat. This will be part of his learning process.

All good points. The Orioles are not competing this year, so at the end of the day, this year is all about his adjustment to the major leagues. Let's see him get 200 PAs under his belt and access a bit.

In your opinion. From a business standpoint, which the Orioles are a business and Elias knows this very well, it makes total sense at this point. I'd like to see him pitching in the majors as soon as possible, but I understand from the Orioles business side that they are not going to promote him before then when they are so close.

It's pretty clear they will wait for this now. As much as he's ready, why would they not wait two more weeks and avoid that Super 2 status?

Great observations by @justD and she's right on point. I've watched his last two starts with Norfolk and he's really struggling to command and sometimes even find his secondaries. one of the things that impressed me so much last year prior to the injury was his ability to throw all four pitches for strikes. While he still can on occasion, he's really struggling to find a good secondary that he can go to consistently. Yesterday, his slider was pretty bad mostly (gave up a homer to a lefty on a lazy slider in the middle of the plate) and wasn't able to get his curve or change over very much. He was relying on blowing guys away with his heater up in the zone. He's obviously a very, very talented young pitcher, but I haven't seen the command of the secondaries that tells me he would have any sustained success at the major league level yet. None of this overly surprising considering his lack of work on the mound since 2019. He just needs time, but I don't see any reason he should be considered for the big leagues right now.

The kid needs to prove he can stay on the field. He's got talent for sure, but he's quickly getting into Diaz territory when it comes to getting hurt.

I've been watching him for a bit, but just haven't seen enough yet to get me excited over him. The fastball can be bleh at times and the slider is inconsistent. Saying that, he's at least a guy i pay attention to and I'm going to take a harder look at him with Bowie since I have better video options when they are away from Bowie poor camera angles.

In the minors...

Not really. I'm just less thrilled with the guys behind him or just don't have enough info yet on the (A+/A) pitchers behind him. Honestly, the fact that he's so high says more about the depth of the system this year. Not a ton of guys taking steps forward and not a lot of new exciting breakout guys. Let's hope some of the Latin players really have great DSL and FCL seasons and the draft brings in some exciting guys.

Lowther yesterday had me wondering what's going on with him. The command was absolutely awful and was either uncompetitive pitches or middle of the plate. I looked at his pitch movement from 2021 to 2022 and his slider is absolutely trash now after having plus vertical and horizontal movement last year. I know he said he was working on a new grip on it for some reasons, but if this is the results, it's a terrible development. His fastball is never going to be a good pitch because it doesn't have good velocity and his vertical movement is below average. He'll always need to spot that pitch but the change has ok movement but he just struggled to command that as well. He just looks lost right now and nothing like the guy we saw last September who gave us thoughts that he could still turn into something. I've been one of his biggest supporters but he's really imploded this year into a guy with almost no command and with poor stuff to boot. He really is not a big league pitcher right now and the question is whether he can refind things. He may be a guy where I've just got to admit I was wrong about him. They probably need to send him down to AAA and just let him be until he can refind his slide and his command. He still probably doesn't have much of a chance of being more than a fifth starter, but he did eat innings and went 100 pitches yesterday and so he ate important innings in a game where the Orioles started a AAAA reliever. I know some think he should be DFA'd but there are at least 5-6 guys who can go before him still. Still a lot of mediocre AAAA guys on this 40-man.