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Colton Cowser 2023


DirtyBird

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20 hours ago, Just Regular said:

One of The Athletic's podcasters mentioned he wrote up Orioles LF for fantasy playing time speculators as one of the Top 7 scenarios where the incumbent could be approaching the job loss zone.

Hopefully we get the good Hays, and Cowser's angle of approach runs a bit more through pushing Santander or Stowers towards a more DH devoted role - I believe Cowser reasonably above Stowers/Santander on the grass.

It would be a good thing if Cowser is pushing for Hays' job this year at some point. Not that I'm rooting against  Hays at all, just that it means Cowser has started to make those adjustments and is showing he's ready for big league pitching.

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6 minutes ago, Chaka Garcia said:

Seems like Cowser bulked up over the offseason. Looks bigger than Westburg, hope the speed to man CF is still there.

He is bigger, but just looks stronger. Mike Trout and Aaron Judge (at least last year) played alot of CF competently. I realize they're superfreaks and I wouldn't dare compare Cowser to them, but they're both big, big guys, and seem to handle it. Sometimes it's about more than speed...Felix Pie was fast as hell but man was he a bummer to watch in CF. 

That all being said, I don't disagree with you, if he loses his ability to play CF, he becomes a lot less interesting in a hurry.

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1 minute ago, CharmCityHokie said:

He is bigger, but just looks stronger. Mike Trout and Aaron Judge (at least last year) played alot of CF competently. I realize they're superfreaks and I wouldn't dare compare Cowser to them, but they're both big, big guys, and seem to handle it. Sometimes it's about more than speed...Felix Pie was fast as hell but man was he a bummer to watch in CF. 

That all being said, I don't disagree with you, if he loses his ability to play CF, he becomes a lot less interesting in a hurry.

It is astonishing that a human as large as Judge is can be an effective center fielder. 

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With LF in OPACY being so big and Mullins already on the roster, I’m not too fussed about Cowser being able to play CF. It would help his trade value definitely, but I don’t think the Orioles are inclined to shop him given a plus defensive LF still has a ton of value with the ground to cover at home. We can worry about CF once Mullins is out of town / needs to move to LF - and by that time we may have Fabian/Beavers/Haskin/others in the mix.

The biggest question in my mind for Cowser is his hit tool / K rate…and after starting off spring training racking up a ton of K’s, I believe he’s now at a 25% rate.  His eye/swing decisions look fantastic and I’m convinced the power is legit now, so it’s just his contact ability that will determine his ceiling offensively.

Being able to hit lefties better would obviously be great, but if he gets his K rate in check against them his BB rate could carry him to something palatable there to be a starter given the plus defense. If he ends up more of a platoon guy, he would still be very valuable against righties. 

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