Loewen done pitching

[Big Mac]

This is terrible news about Loewen, in all likeliness, his Major League career is over. I feel terrible for him and it's really makes me sad to hear this.

I'm 16 years old and am facing a career-ending injury, and I can tell you it is really tough to take. I can't imagine it happening as a 24 year-old major league pitcher, he must be devastated.]

Loewen's career isn't really over, but it will take a miracle for it to continue much longer.

Best of luck to you Adam, I'm pulling for you.

[hoosiers]

A very sad day indeed. I've been pulling for Loewen since the winter before the 02 draft. It's very sad to see the journey end this way.

[Moose Milligan]

This is terrible news about Loewen, in all likeliness, his Major League career is over. I feel terrible for him and it's really makes me sad to hear this.

I'm 16 years old and am facing a career-ending injury, and I can tell you it is really tough to take. I can't imagine it happening as a 24 year-old major league pitcher, he must be devastated.]

Loewen's career isn't really over, but it will take a miracle for it to continue much longer.

Best of luck to you Adam, I'm pulling for you.

Good luck to you too, dude

[nadecir]

This is probably the worst news of the season for the Orioles. I hope Adam pulls a the one in a million and shot and makes it back in the majors as a hitter.

Having the number 4 pick in the 2002 draft turn out to be a bust is a tough pill to swallow. Look at the left handed pitchers who went after Loewen in the first round of the 2002 draft:

Cole Hamels

Scott Kazmir

Joe Saunders

Jeff Francis

Ouch - the Orioles could have use one of these guys.

Also drafted after Loewen in the 2002 first round:

Prince Fielder

Matt Cain

Zach Greinke

Joe Blanton

Nick Swisher

James Loney

Jeffrey Francoeur

Khalil Greene

Jeremy Hermida

Jeremy Guthrie

Royce Ring

[cbm5042]

I could see Loewen becoming the next Ankiel.

[TommyD4207]

Wishing him lots of luck and I'm glad to see he's not giving up on his dream.

Had to roll my eyes at some of the posts in this thread, but then again they aren't totally surprising considering the sources. We should all be wishing him luck and hoping he makes it, regardless of what the chances are.

I'm pretty sure you could change "sources" to "source."

[waroriole]

That is sad to see. Not so much for the O's and us as fans, but for Adam. He seems like a really good guy and a real competitor so I know this is eating at him. Here's hoping we see him again real soon in Baltimore.

[Fred Manfraud]

I would rather him sit out the next 18-24 months letting his arm recover, and rehab... vs making him a position player.

I know he went into the draft highly regarded for the bat... (though I do not think anyone has ever said just how high he was projected as a positional hitter)...

The last time he batted with any regularity was with Chipola JC in 2003.... even then he only had 150 atbats... and while he batted 353, he had 1 homerun...

Now maybe his offense would have been better if he was working on it full-time... but I question how a guy with 1 HR in 150at-bats in JUCO, is going to take 5-6 years off from hitting, and work his way back as a professional hitter.

Loewen is a good athlete, and he might find success... but when you consider the years in-between hitting regularly, and the whole option mess.... I think a better path for him to take would be surgery now, and trying to get him back on a mound by July 2010....

In any event, a sad day...... and I'm sure a horrible blow to his psyche... and I wish him well...

What an amazing story it would be if he found success as a hitter, and makes the bigs again.. even for a cup of coffee.

I agree wholeheartedly. The odds of Loewen making the Majors as a hitter are astronomical. The fact that there has been such a big deal made about Ankiel shows just how difficult this is. I would be shocked if Loewen has any success even in the Minors, sorry to say.

And while I do feel sorry for Loewen, let's remember he was able to make a good deal of money doing something he loved, even if it was for just a little while. We should all be so lucky.

[StottyByNature]

In no way am I going to analyze his chances. The guy just had his dream of being a big-league pitcher ripped away from him. His left arm was his lifeblood. Im sure we can all empathize with what it must mean to have a dream taken away from you. I'm gonna be pulling even harder for the guy now.

[The Wedge]

Copied from another post I made:

People need to have some perspective. This is nowhere near Ankiels journey. By age 25, Ankiel had a combined 573 minor/major league at bats, with a fair amount of success as a regular in AA. Loewen will have ZERO at bats at the same stage in their careers. Best case, his arm doesn't fall off while swinging at a fastball and we see him as a 29 or 30 year old 'rookie' down the road... I'm not saying he can't do it, but he's not going to follow Ankiels path by any means...

Not to mention the circumstances of their switch from pitching to hitting are completely different.

That being said, I'm hoping he can pull it off. Odds are against him, but we all love it when the odds are bucked like that.

But as someone on the radio (I think it was Mike Greenberg) said about a completely different situation (Josh Hamilton), stories like that resonate so much because for every one of them, they're are a thousand that don't pull themselves back up.

[Mark Carver]

Thanks, Mark. But I'm still a bit confused here. I've never seen this before. Is it because this is a unique situation in which the player AGREES to transform himself into a minor leaguer? (If so, I can understand that this would be unusual. But I can't imagine that it would be unprecedented.)

Also, when precisely would this happen? I'm wondering about 40-man roster ramifications for this Winter.

He'd just have to clear waivers since he's out of options to removed from the 40-man roster. I'd say the chances are very good that he will as I doubt another team would pick him up so that he'd sit on their 40-man roster while he experiments with becoming a hitter.

[Ruzious]

I would rather him sit out the next 18-24 months letting his arm recover, and rehab... vs making him a position player.

I know he went into the draft highly regarded for the bat... (though I do not think anyone has ever said just how high he was projected as a positional hitter)...

The last time he batted with any regularity was with Chipola JC in 2003.... even then he only had 150 atbats... and while he batted 353, he had 1 homerun...

Now maybe his offense would have been better if he was working on it full-time... but I question how a guy with 1 HR in 150at-bats in JUCO, is going to take 5-6 years off from hitting, and work his way back as a professional hitter.

Loewen is a good athlete, and he might find success... but when you consider the years in-between hitting regularly, and the whole option mess.... I think a better path for him to take would be surgery now, and trying to get him back on a mound by July 2010....

In any event, a sad day...... and I'm sure a horrible blow to his psyche... and I wish him well...

What an amazing story it would be if he found success as a hitter, and makes the bigs again.. even for a cup of coffee.

My reaction would be that - I'm sure he wouldn't have made this decision if the prognosis of him ever returning to what he was physically - was good. I.e., rebuilding him was not likely going to ever happen, and converting to a hitter - however small his chances - was his best chance of returning to the majors. This is a guy who said he will always be a pitcher, so he likely wouldn't have made this choice if there was a better option.

[Malike]

It keeps coming up in several different threads that he has a one in a million shot of switching from pitching to position player. My question for all the people giving out these odds would be, what is the sample size that you are basing your conclusion off of? I honestly dont know how often teams try to swap pitchers to position players.

I'm sure people will say, duh, they dont switch them because it wont work, but who really knows? Nothing worse then conceding without even giving something a shot. I'm not saying that he's going to be successful, but I'm fairly certain that the 99.99% failure rate and one in a million shot to succeed are

[Sanfran327]

His agent is Boras, so they'd be adding on money.

*EDIT*

Nevermind.

I don't think that even Boras could get him more money. The guy just found out that he can't play his position anymore. Can't they just cut him then sign him to a minor league contract? I don't know the rules on that, but something tells me that's not the way it would work. What are our options regarding getting this guy back in AA? Can we really just keep putting him on the 60-day DL? Are guys on the 60-day allowed to play in the minors like guys on the 15-day?

[cindyluvsbrady]

What a shame for Adam. He's a bulldog and a terrific guy. Thia is really terrible for him, and a terrrible loss for the team.

He was a good hitter in high school and Juco, but the chances that he can be a major leaguer with the bat are pretty remote. I'm glad he'll get every chance to try to do it.

I was crying about this for a long time last night:(

I am praying for a miracle for baby Adam:pray: