2021 1st round pick (5): Colton Cowser - OF - (Junior) Sam Houston University

[Orioles1954]

Meh.

[Can_of_corn]

Anyone want to start guessing how they spin it?

Our analytics are very strong on Coswer.  This is where he was on our draft board.  We had a group of players clustered at this point.

[Roll Tide]

1 minute ago, MijiT88 said:

I for one am not shocked by the bargain shopping but how did we not take a SS with all of them besides one right there for us...

The top 2 SS have been HS players. I’m mad we passed on Rocker!

[Legend_Of_Joey]

That’s a weird way to spell “Kumar Rocker.”

[Tony-OH]

4 minutes ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

Any idea who the overslot targets might be?

Nope, no idea. Not sure I even understand this strategy in a 20 round draft. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, MijiT88 said:

I for one am not shocked by the bargain shopping but how did we not take a SS with all of them besides one right there for us...

But it isn't bargain shopping.

They are still going to spend almost all their draft allotment.

They aren't saving.  They are just giving it to some player further along that isn't as highly regarded.

[Roll Tide]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Anyone want to start guessing how they spin it?

Our analytics are very strong on Coswer.  This is where he was on our draft board.  We had a group of players clustered at this point.

If they think the fans are stupid they have bigger problems than I thought! 

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, doccat said:

To be fair, the 2 times Elias got badly burned in the 1st round were with pitchers Brady Aiken and Mark Appel, so I can see being timid about picking Rocker...   

 

Let's see 5 years from now how Jordan Lawlor is doing compared to Colton Cowser...  or Khalil Watson for that matter....

 

 

Cough.. Heston Kjerstad ... cough

[higgybaby]

This pick makes me doubt everything that Elias said about kjeirsted being the player they had rated as BPA last year. 

[BohKnowsBmore]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

Nope, no idea. Not sure I even understand this strategy in a 20 round draft. 

People did it in the 40+ round draft, why not 20?

[lovetoaster]

I am neither excited or outraged by this pick. I guess because I expected it. 

Cowser is a good player. He’ll probably rise quickly unless he comes down with a horrible, random ailment like Kjerstad did. We’re there more flashy picks out there with higher ceilings? Yep. Will all of those guys reach those ceilings? Nope. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 

After all we’ve been through as fans, I’m sure not jumping ship or done with Elias after this pick. 

[BohKnowsBmore]

Just now, higgybaby said:

This pick makes me doubt everything that Elias said about kjeirsted being the player they had rated as BPA last year. 

Why? They could have had a best of both worlds situation from their perspective. 

[ChosenOne21]

My guess is his models didn't like Lawler because he turns 19 in a week, and he didn't like Rocker due to the injury/effectiveness questions. Elias seems very much like a "trust the process" guy, so I doubt he'd let Appel and Aiken get in the way of drafting a first-round pitcher

[Explosivo]

There wasn’t a consensus #1 in this draft. We cut a deal with a guy who’s a top college bat so we can do more damage in later rounds. I like the pick. It also shows me that Elias feels our window is closer than most want to believe. Getting a high schooler takes much longer to develop. This guy will be ready sooner. Let’s go O’s!

[Ruzious]

37 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Post all scouting reports and initial comments and thoughts in this thread.

MLB Scouting report: 

Cowser was a late bloomer at Cypress Ranch HS (Cypress, Texas), where he played alongside projected 2021 first-rounder Ty Madden as well as J.J. Goss and Matt Thompson, who both went in the top two rounds in 2019. Scouts liked Cowser but not enough to divert him from Sam Houston, where he could surpass Glenn Wilson (No. 18 overall, 1980) as the highest pick in school history. The only Bearkat ever to play for the U.S. collegiate national team, he earned MVP honors in a 2019 series against Cuba after batting .438 in six games. 

One of the best bats in the college class, Cowser has a pure left-handed stroke and repeatedly finds the barrel. His quick hands allow him to pepper line drives all over the field as he executes a very controlled approach. Though he presently doesn't have a lot of loft in his swing, leading to some questions about his power potential, he has the hitting ability and strength to provide 20 or more homers annually and answered some questions about his power by going deep in five straight games in April and topping the Southland Conference with 16 homers this spring. 

Scouts were somewhat split on Cowser's ability to play center field, though they believe in him now that he has posted consistent plus running times this spring. He has good defensive instincts in center, possesses an average arm and spent most of his prep career in right field -- Goss and Thompson played center when they weren't pitching -- and part of his freshman season at third base. The Southland Conference player of the year's game has earned him comparisons to Brandon Nimmo and Bradley Zimmer and he could join them as mid-first-round picks.

And he's sitting next to Madden at the draft - they appear to be best friends.  I like that comp to Zimmer.  Zimmer looks a bit more muscular, but Madden might end up with more power.  If we ignore the fact that we passed up 3 great SS's and Kumar, I think we'd be excited to have him as our 1st round pick - and excited to see what the result of going under-slot gets us.  We got a really good prospect.