Colton Cowser 2022

[RZNJ]

https://www.mlb.com/giants/video/cowser-crushes-a-home-run

The first video is from late last year as it was his 15th homer in college.  The other was from Wednesday when he homered.  Two completely different angles.  Is there more load with his hands?  More weight shift?  

[Hazmat]

39 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

https://www.mlb.com/giants/video/cowser-crushes-a-home-run

The first video is from late last year as it was his 15th homer in college.  The other was from Wednesday when he homered.  Two completely different angles.  Is there more load with his hands?  More weight shift?  

Impossible to tell when the videos are taken from 2 completely different vantage points.

[interloper]

3 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Wouldn’t this be the correct time to make a swing adjustment for more power?  Last year, was him just getting his feet wet in pro ball, and giving our org a chance to evaluate what exactly he needed to change. So it’s good for him to do that at A+ then to at Bowie where the pitching starts to get a lot tougher. 
 

I’m not worried about Cowser. 

Yeah I think the O's are trying get some of these guys to mold into their hitting philosophy and we might see a year or two of iffy results before, hopefully, things click for the better. I'm sure they knew Cowser would need some tweaking but felt with his elite hit tool that he would adjust to whatever they threw at him. Hopefully that's the case! This season might look a little rough, but I think next year he could move quickly. 

[sportsfan8703]

6 hours ago, RZNJ said:

https://www.mlb.com/giants/video/cowser-crushes-a-home-run

The first video is from late last year as it was his 15th homer in college.  The other was from Wednesday when he homered.  Two completely different angles.  Is there more load with his hands?  More weight shift?  

It’s hard to tell, but he’s a lot bigger dude than I thought he was. The vibe on here has been that he’s some slap hitter. Even if Markakis is a comp, he’s bigger than him. He’s going to be alright. He’s a 2 homer week from an .850 OPS. 

[RZNJ]

17 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

It’s hard to tell, but he’s a lot bigger dude than I thought he was. The vibe on here has been that he’s some slap hitter. Even if Markakis is a comp, he’s bigger than him. He’s going to be alright. He’s a 2 homer week from an .850 OPS. 

He needs to get the strikeouts down while maintaining the extra base power.   If he does that, the average will go back up.  We'll see.

[btdart20]

7 hours ago, RZNJ said:

https://www.mlb.com/giants/video/cowser-crushes-a-home-run

The first video is from late last year as it was his 15th homer in college.  The other was from Wednesday when he homered.  Two completely different angles.  Is there more load with his hands?  More weight shift?  

My novice take:  Not a good angle of the swing itself, but looks like the ball drifted in a bit and he was able to get drop the barrel nicely.  But the swing itself looks disconnected from his lower half and is a little long but with good bat-to-ball skills he gets around the barrel around it to hit it hard.

The Aberdeen HR in the link looks more 'top arm' driven.  Again, not the side angle, but alas...  Top arm is getting behind the ball (inside/out swing).  It looks like a different swing to me, but the swing in the Sam Houston video could have been an opportunistic swing instead of staying tight.  (Caveat emptor as you get what you pay for with my free analysis!)

 

Also wanted to drop this in as a reminder.  Using the 'top arm' is more legs/back hip driven mentioned in the article.

A Conversation With Baltimore Orioles Prospect Colton Cowser | FanGraphs Baseball

David Laurila: When Baseball America wrote you up for their 2022 Prospect Handbook, they cited your impressive walk-to-strikeout ratio. They also wrote that your swing path is “presently more geared toward contact versus power.” Do you feel that’s accurate?

Colton Cowser: “I think so. But I’m not necessarily focused on my swing path resulting in more contact or power; I mostly just try to go up there with the same swing. Home runs come from timing. Even so, I have started to understand some of those things a little bit more. The Orioles have kind of brought that to my eyes with some of the developmental stuff they have.”

 

Laurila: I was planning to ask you about that. Hitting analytics have presumably become a bigger part of your baseball life since you signed.

Cowser: “For sure. We broke down some of the things they were looking at. They relayed it to me, kind of putting it into simpler terms, I guess you could say. I’d never really looked at the analytical side of baseball — I’d just gone out there and played — and they were showing me the next thing I could do to really boost my game.”

Laurila: What most stood out in the line I quoted was the word “presently.” Do you anticipate your swing path changing at all?

Cowser: “Not necessarily ‘change.’ I definitely think there are certain movements. For instance, I could tap into my legs a little bit more. That’s something I’ve been working on this offseason, and I feel it’s changed the ball flight for me. I’m more consistent. It’s not as many low line drives, it’s more… ‘launched,’ I guess you could say.”

Laurila: Hitters often talk about getting into their legs more. What exactly does that mean? What are you doing differently?

Cowser: “I’m thinking about my back hip, pretty much. When I’m loading, I’m kind of getting over the baseball. I’m more sitting into my back leg and keeping my back heel into the ground. Then, when I’m swinging, I’m kind of not coming out of my back heel but instead driving through it. I’m using the ground kind of like a board and then pushing off of it. That’s what I’ve been working on.”

[Jammer7]

16 hours ago, btdart20 said:

My novice take:  Not a good angle of the swing itself, but looks like the ball drifted in a bit and he was able to get drop the barrel nicely.  But the swing itself looks disconnected from his lower half and is a little long but with good bat-to-ball skills he gets around the barrel around it to hit it hard.

The Aberdeen HR in the link looks more 'top arm' driven.  Again, not the side angle, but alas...  Top arm is getting behind the ball (inside/out swing).  It looks like a different swing to me, but the swing in the Sam Houston video could have been an opportunistic swing instead of staying tight.  (Caveat emptor as you get what you pay for with my free analysis!)

 

Also wanted to drop this in as a reminder.  Using the 'top arm' is more legs/back hip driven mentioned in the article.

A Conversation With Baltimore Orioles Prospect Colton Cowser | FanGraphs Baseball

David Laurila: When Baseball America wrote you up for their 2022 Prospect Handbook, they cited your impressive walk-to-strikeout ratio. They also wrote that your swing path is “presently more geared toward contact versus power.” Do you feel that’s accurate?

Colton Cowser: “I think so. But I’m not necessarily focused on my swing path resulting in more contact or power; I mostly just try to go up there with the same swing. Home runs come from timing. Even so, I have started to understand some of those things a little bit more. The Orioles have kind of brought that to my eyes with some of the developmental stuff they have.”

 

Laurila: I was planning to ask you about that. Hitting analytics have presumably become a bigger part of your baseball life since you signed.

Cowser: “For sure. We broke down some of the things they were looking at. They relayed it to me, kind of putting it into simpler terms, I guess you could say. I’d never really looked at the analytical side of baseball — I’d just gone out there and played — and they were showing me the next thing I could do to really boost my game.”

Laurila: What most stood out in the line I quoted was the word “presently.” Do you anticipate your swing path changing at all?

Cowser: “Not necessarily ‘change.’ I definitely think there are certain movements. For instance, I could tap into my legs a little bit more. That’s something I’ve been working on this offseason, and I feel it’s changed the ball flight for me. I’m more consistent. It’s not as many low line drives, it’s more… ‘launched,’ I guess you could say.”

Laurila: Hitters often talk about getting into their legs more. What exactly does that mean? What are you doing differently?

Cowser: “I’m thinking about my back hip, pretty much. When I’m loading, I’m kind of getting over the baseball. I’m more sitting into my back leg and keeping my back heel into the ground. Then, when I’m swinging, I’m kind of not coming out of my back heel but instead driving through it. I’m using the ground kind of like a board and then pushing off of it. That’s what I’ve been working on.”

What he said in the interview about his back hip and leg, that is what I noticed. He sinks in and drives that hip more. The hands don’t really seem different, but the angle is tough. 

[Paul in Virginia]

 

 

[RZNJ]

5 hits in his last two games but the strikeouts continue.   By my count, Cowser has appeared in 35 games.   He has at least one strikeout in 32 of them.

[glenn__davis]

Heard a good interview with Justin Ramsey the other day, and he really emphasized the idea of focusing on development in the minors, not results.  Gave the example that the organization doesn't care if you lose a game because you tried to throw a change-up to work on it, if that helps your change-up be better at the MLB level.  Really emphasized that success at the MLB level is the goal.  

Obviously he's a pitching coach but I couldn't help but think of Cowser.  I really think that it what is happening here.  Taking 1 step back to hopefully take 2 (or 3 or 4) forward.

[Can_of_corn]

So he's into Lego.

 

[baltfan]

36 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

So he's into Lego.

 

Slander.  https://twitter.com/CowserColton/status/1529542838228340742?s=20&t=i_W86ZrfAfpqctYkb2I-5w

[joelala]

45 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

So he's into Lego.

 

And Star Wars. Can’t knock it. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, joelala said:

And Star Wars. 

I was trying to avoid being critical.

[joelala]

9 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I was trying to avoid being critical.

You mostly succeeded.