Someone has to say it...

[banks703]

22 minutes ago, Bemorewins said:

Exactly! We HOPE that Bradfield Jr can be one of those guys one day. But they are extremely rare.

In my opinion EBJ actually offers a little more than what Ced has. He's going to come into baseball as maybe the fastest player in the league. Ced is an exceptional athlete but EBJ is a tick above Ced in terms of raw speed. He's also a bit bigger/longer than Ced. 

If it works out that the torch is passed from Ced to EBJ in two years (maybe earlier depending on how fast EBJ moves through the system and what the O's do with Ced) then I think the O's will be in good hands in CF. 

[yark14]

I'm going to revive this thread in a month when he heats up and everyone is singing his praises.

[Bemorewins]

19 minutes ago, banks703 said:

In my opinion EBJ actually offers a little more than what Ced has. He's going to come into baseball as maybe the fastest player in the league. Ced is an exceptional athlete but EBJ is a tick above Ced in terms of raw speed. He's also a bit bigger/longer than Ced. 

If it works out that the torch is passed from Ced to EBJ in two years (maybe earlier depending on how fast EBJ moves through the system and what the O's do with Ced) then I think the O's will be in good hands in CF. 

I hope so. 

Bradfield Jr appears to have two ELITE tools (80 scouting grades).

I am not a dogmatic person at all, however when it comes to ALL sports I am a traits-based guy (a term used more in the football scouting community). I tend to prefer betting on elite talent more than anything else. Because skills can be acquired to a degree but when a player can do something that few or no one else can do, I tend to like to start there and build out from that.

That has not worked out so well with Mateo. But I see Bradfield with a better hit tool to begin with.

[Frobby]

24 minutes ago, banks703 said:

You can make this statement about (probably) 778 current major league players at the moment. There is MAYBE two other guys in all of baseball that run them down as well as Ced and one of them is a permanent DH in Minnesota because he can't stay healthy. 

I don’t think anyone ever suggested Cowser would be as good as Mullins defensively, so I don’t know why @Bemorewinswas addressing that.  Right now, from what I’ve seen, he may not be better than Hays in CF, though he’s probably faster at this stage of his career.  He doesn’t get very good reads or jumps in my limited exposure to him.  Could be that he’s just adjusting to playing in 3-tier stadiums, but it could be more than that.  

Offensively, Cowser has shown a good eye but hasn’t really gotten untracked yet.  He has more walks than strikeouts but hasn’t hit the ball with a ton of authority just yet.  From a long term viewpoint, I’m not at all concerned.  But it will be tricky working him into the lineup while waiting for him to get into gear.  
 

 

[banks703]

34 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think anyone ever suggested Cowser would be as good as Mullins defensively, so I don’t know why @Bemorewinswas addressing that.  Right now, from what I’ve seen, he may not be better than Hays in CF, though he’s probably faster at this stage of his career.  He doesn’t get very good reads or jumps in my limited exposure to him.  Could be that he’s just adjusting to playing in 3-tier stadiums, but it could be more than that.  

Offensively, Cowser has shown a good eye but hasn’t really gotten untracked yet.  He has more walks than strikeouts but hasn’t hit the ball with a ton of authority just yet.  From a long term viewpoint, I’m not at all concerned.  But it will be tricky working him into the lineup while waiting for him to get into gear.  
 

 

For sure but this logjam with prospects and players at the ML was inevitable. If this were any of the five previous years, they would trot out whoever and let them struggle because of draft position.  The difference (in their words) this year is that they are trying to win games and shockingly to many (I had them improving by five games this year, so not quite their current pace) they have caught Tampa and are now in the hunt for not just a playoff berth but for a division title. There's a balance of bringing along the rookies (it's crazy how good Gunnar has been the last six or seven weeks, he no longer looks like a rookie to me) and fielding a lineup that gives them the best chance to win every single game. 

I see a lot of Bowie and Norfolk games so I've seen a considerable amount of all of these prospects. I'm a big fan of Cowser and yes he's not been awesome since his promotion, particularly on D where I didn't expect him to struggle but playing in ML stadiums for the first time with a third deck, day games at OPACY when the sun is coming right over said third deck.. is not easy and should be as much a testament to a Cedric Mullins because of how easy he makes it look day in and day out. Some of the assessments of Cowser being brandished around The Hangout after nine games tell me that most of our folks on here had not ever actually seen him play and only read box scores or looked up stats. He's struggled, no doubt but he's done that at every level. I'm with you and not concerned about Cowser's long-term contribution to the O's both this year and years going forward. 

[Just Regular]

2 hours ago, Bemorewins said:

Forgive me because I’m not really sure what Wayne Gretzky has to do with baseball or Colton Cowser in particular. It is a nice quote though, but I’m struggling with the correlation.

I’m also not seeing a link between Aaron Hicks and Jesus Aguilar.

Please help me understand.

Cowser - UP trend, Hicks - DOWN trend; happens in all the sports.

Process-wise, Hicks and Aguilar flyers have similarities - one has had a dead cat bounce.    Or maybe more, if Fuller/Borgschulte having him stand taller is an adjustment MLB Arms will be unable to combat.    I don't rule out that players of established MLB caliber can get performance spikes with adjustments, I just don't think Hicks good run will sustain.

8.31.2022 - BAL signs FA Aguilar, born 6.30.1990.     In the year preceding his acquisition date, he hit 236/286/386 in 470 PA.

5.30.2023 - BAL signs FA Hicks, born 10.2.1989.     In the year preceding his acquisition date, he hit 216/318/330 in 384 PA.

 

[RZNJ]

A seeing eye grounder that he hit solidly and a big GW sac fly on an 0-2 count.  I was ready for a K there.   Hopefully, he relaxes and gains some confidence from tonight and gets on a roll now.   Good game, Cowser!

[Too Tall]

I've seen a different player at the plate the last two games. More comfortable and confident. Nice game tonight. I think he'll be fine. Just takes time to adjust and it's an ongoing process. He'll remember tonight.

[bluedog]

Cowser has faced some strong starting pitchers since he came up. I'm convinced he'll make everyone forget the slow start in a few more weeks as he gets to face more average / below average staffs.

[banks703]

It’s been beaten into the ground that he’s a habitually slow starter when introduced to a new league. 
 

It’s really great for him to have a big (positive) moment like tonight. Hopefully that accelerates his getting comfortable. He’s certainly looked a little better the last two nights. Big moment for him. Happy for the kid. 

[interloper]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

A seeing eye grounder that he hit solidly and a big GW sac fly on an 0-2 count.  I was ready for a K there.   Hopefully, he relaxes and gains some confidence from tonight and gets on a roll now.   Good game, Cowser!

Haven't seen a lot of fly balls from him yet so yeah I was pretty pessimistic that he'd get one in the air with 2 strikes. Great to see him get it done.

[RZNJ]

10 hours ago, interloper said:

Haven't seen a lot of fly balls from him yet so yeah I was pretty pessimistic that he'd get one in the air with 2 strikes. Great to see him get it done.

I’d like to see him drive a few out to RF.   He’s capable, no doubt.