Colton Cowser 2024

[Sports Guy]

7 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Says the president of the Mayo is a future MLB RF club. 

 

7 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Says the president of the Mayo is a future MLB RF club. 

Well at least we know they have him out there shagging fly balls out there and they have talked about him getting RF time(talked about in ST)..not to mention, he actually has people in front of him at the other positions he plays…RF could potentially be up in the air depending on how you feel about Kjerstad’s defense.

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

 

Well at least we know they have him out there shagging fly balls out there and they have talked about him getting RF time(talked about in ST)..not to mention, he actually has people in front of him at the other positions he plays…RF could potentially be up in the air depending on how you feel about Kjerstad’s defense.

Has this been reported?  Thats a good thing if so.  I hadn’t seen anything.  

Edited June 7 by emmett16

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Has this been reported?  Thats a good thing of so.  I hadn’t seen anything.  

It was earlier in the season and in ST.  No idea how much it was happening or if they scraped it though.  Guess that’s possible.

[emmett16]

54 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It was earlier in the season and in ST.  No idea how much it was happening or if they scraped it though.  Guess that’s possible.

If Cowser is in CF that’s one less guy Mayo would need to compete with in the OF and makes that possibility all the more likely.  

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

If Cowser is in CF that’s one less guy Mayo would need to compete with in the OF and makes that possibility all the more likely.  

Yea that’s a good point.

Im still skeptical he can handle CF on a full time basis but he is making me look more and more foolish for believing that.

Of course, I was going off of many scouting reports saying they doubted he could…but he certainly looks at least capable of being good enough out there, even if he won’t be a GG candidate. 

[Tony-OH]

18 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea that’s a good point.

Im still skeptical he can handle CF on a full time basis but he is making me look more and more foolish for believing that.

Of course, I was going off of many scouting reports saying they doubted he could…but he certainly looks at least capable of being good enough out there, even if he won’t be a GG candidate. 

I didn't think he was good fit there and may not be long term if he slows down, but he's made a believer out of me that he can play there now and in the near future.

 

[interloper]

I would call Cowser's best case scenario CF ability as roughly Jones-ish. As in, on his best day, he could make some Jones-like plays. But he won't be anywhere close to as consistently Jones-ish as Jones was. 

This is me considering someone like Mullins a much better CF than Jones. But I consider Jones to be above average in his hey-day. 

We've still yet to see a truly sparkling diving catch from Cowser, unless I missed it. I know he robbed a  homer and has made some sliding catches I think. 

Edited June 7 by interloper

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I didn't think he was good fit there and may not be long term if he slows down, but he's made a believer out of me that he can play there now and in the near future.

 

Yea and your opinion was shared by most evaluators that I saw.  When you keep seeing the same thing over and over again, you tend to think it’s the right way to view things.

That said and to be fair to you and anyone else, how much work and effort someone puts into defense and getting better isn’t a measurable thing and maybe Cowser is just getting better.

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea and your opinion was shared by most evaluators that I saw.  When you keep seeing the same thing over and over again, you tend to think it’s the right way to view things.

That said and to be fair to you and anyone else, how much work and effort someone puts into defense and getting better isn’t a measurable thing and maybe Cowser is just getting better.

Players do improve as well, and Cowser clearly developed better jumps and routes. I rarely undershoot a player's abilities, but I'm happy to see that Cowser has improved to the point that he's over achieved my evaluation. Though I never said he couldn't play CF, just that he'd be much better in the corners and he doesn't have the elite foot speed that teams typically want in CF. 

 

[Hallas]

5 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Players do improve as well, and Cowser clearly developed better jumps and routes. I rarely undershoot a player's abilities, but I'm happy to see that Cowser has improved to the point that he's over achieved my evaluation. Though I never said he couldn't play CF, just that he'd be much better in the corners and he doesn't have the elite foot speed that teams typically want in CF. 

 

Getting jobbed last year must have lit a fire under Cowser's ass this past offseason.  He's improved his sprint speed too, which doesn't usually happen unless there was an injury.

[Sports Guy]

23 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Players do improve as well, and Cowser clearly developed better jumps and routes. I rarely undershoot a player's abilities, but I'm happy to see that Cowser has improved to the point that he's over achieved my evaluation. Though I never said he couldn't play CF, just that he'd be much better in the corners and he doesn't have the elite foot speed that teams typically want in CF. 

 

Yea. I think what you and most others said was something to the effect of, he can play there if you need him to but you don’t really want him there everyday.

In the SSS we saw here last year, I felt that opinion was correct but again, it was a SSS, so I tried not to put more weight in that than what most evaluators were saying.

But I do think we all tend to forget, at times, that young players aren’t finished products and if they choose to put the work in, they will get better.

This is my stance on Holliday going to SS.  I am not disagreeing with people who doubt his arm or something like that.  Where I disagree is acting like he’s a finished product at age 20. Now, he may very well be because maybe he doesn’t put the time and effort into things that he should and because of it, he won’t reach his defensive ceiling. I just tend to doubt that with that kid.

Edited June 7 by Sports Guy

[Ripken]

Whatever small detriment to team defense there may be with Cowser in CF, and there may not be any at all, it would more than likely be made up (and then some) by the expectation he'll hit better than the most CFs.  Beyond which, it opens both COF spots to the likes of Kjerstad, Mayo, Stowers, Norby, etc.  I didn't like his defense at all last year but I've been more than ready to call him the full time CF this season and going forward.

[Tony-OH]

37 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea. I think what you and most others said was something to the effect of, he can play there if you need him to but you don’t really want him there everyday.

In the SSS we saw here last year, I felt that opinion was correct but again, it was a SSS, so I tried not to put more weight in that than what most evaluators were saying.

But I do think we all tend to forget, at times, that young players aren’t finished products and if they choose to put the work in, they will get better.

This is my stance on Holliday going to SS.  I am not disagreeing with people who doubt his arm or something like that.  Where I disagree is acting like he’s a finished product at age 20. Now, he may very well be because maybe he doesn’t put the time and effort into things that he should and because of it, he won’t reach his defensive ceiling. I just tend to doubt that with that kid.

Right, like Holliday can learn to play center field!  

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

Right, like Holliday can learn to play center field!  

Yea…if they actually try and want to do.

[SemperFi]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Players do improve as well, and Cowser clearly developed better jumps and routes. I rarely undershoot a player's abilities, but I'm happy to see that Cowser has improved to the point that he's over achieved my evaluation. Though I never said he couldn't play CF, just that he'd be much better in the corners and he doesn't have the elite foot speed that teams typically want in CF. 

 

He also gets acclimated to the pitchers (what they are throwing and when) and hitters allowing him to anticipate pitches and cheat on jumps especially in CF.

As you note he may be over-throwing but then his throws should consistently sail or tail and his do both.  IMO in the corners he tends to rush his throws valuing release time over fundamentals and you simply can't do that and hit cut offs.  A CF may not need the strongest arm but it has to be accurate for cuts and guys will continue to run on him until he displays consistency.

I agree with you that long term he's a good corner OF as fluid as he is but he's a really big guy and they don't age well in CF.  I also think EBJ/Josenberger at 1and 3 last year is the blueprint for CF that Elias desires-remember in drafting him (actually both) they went against essentially every hitting metric they previously valued and that direction to me is much more telling about long term CF plans than Cowser's recent showing.