It’s been 14 games at the Double-A level for Colton Cowser, but it’s safe to say that so far, he’s had no trouble adjusting.
MLB's No. 41 overall prospect did it all in Bowie’s doubleheader sweep of Akron, robbing a home run in Game 1 that would have tied the contest before going deep twice in the nightcap.
Cowser finished the second game of Thursday’s twin bill 2-for-4 with three RBIs in the 9-1 win after going 0-for-2 with a walk in the opener.
The Orioles' third-ranked prospect cranked a long ball in his Baysox debut, finishing that game 3-for-3 with three RBIs, and he hasn’t slowed down since. After slugging just four homers through his first 62 games, the 22-year-old already has five dingers at the new level since being promoted on May 28.
“The pitching is more around the zone [in Double-A], and I feel like that benefits me sometimes,” Cowser said. “I feel like I have a pretty good eye for a lot of the pitches. … The biggest thing for me is going in there like, ‘See ball, hit ball.’”
Before Cowser homered twice, he took one away in the sixth inning of Game 1. With Bowie clinging to a one-run lead, he perfectly tracked down a fly ball to deep right-center, taking two broad steps at the warning track before leaping against the wall and saving a run. The Baysox won the first game 2-0.
“I didn’t think it was going to carry as much as it did, it kind of kept carrying and I had a good read on it,” Cowser said. “I started feeling the warning track and felt like I had to jump, and I jumped, and I caught it.”
It was his first time robbing a homer, Cowser said, and the feat was even cooler coming in a close-game situation.
“I didn’t really realize I robbed it until afterwards when I thought about it,” Cowser laughed. "It was pretty cool. It felt good.”
Batting as the designated hitter after manning center field earlier in the day, Cowser was ready to switch from defense to offense. His first dinger of the doubleheader was nothing short of well-earned. The lefty slugger won an 11-pitch at-bat against righty Kyle Marman in the fourth, fouling off five straight two-strike pitches before rocketing a ball over the wall in right-center for a solo blast.
For his second jack, Cowser didn’t have to work quite as hard. He put a bow on the game and his performance with a two-run opposite-field rocket on the second pitch he saw from righty Thomas Ponticelli in the following frame.
“After the first [home run], I was just trying to put together a quality at-bat,” Cowser said. “The first pitcher threw a lot of changeups, so I was just trying to be on top of the fastball and react to anything else, and that’s kind of what happened.”
The fifth overall pick of the 2021 Draft, Cowser was phenomenal over 32 games last season before hitting a modest .258/.385/.410 in 62 games with High-A Aberdeen to begin 2022. Since joining the Baysox, though, he’s posted a .311 average and a 1.194 OPS with 10 RBIs and 11 walks in 14 games.
Ninth-ranked Orioles prospect Connor Norby enjoyed a multihomer game of his own, belting two solo jacks in the first game as Bowie’s sole provider of offense.