Colton Cowser earned the respect of his peers in his first full season in the majors. The players voted Cowser as the American League’s Outstanding Rookie in 2024, and the former first-round pick finished second in the Rookie of the Year Award voted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

The Player’s Choice Award came with a video that featured winners of other awards talking about Cowser. Players like Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, and Cowser’s future teammate Tyler O’Neill praised the rookie as a “gritty player” and a “great hitter” that made an immediate impact on the game. Eventually, the video cut to Cowser reading a list of players that previously won the award.

“There’s a lot of great names on here,” Cowser said. “My fellow lockermate Gunnar Henderson from last year, Yordan, Judge, Correa. Mike Trout is on here. That’s really cool.”

Cowser then went on to say that he really didn’t view himself as one of those guys. The Sam Houston State product only had one Division I scholarship offer out of high school, but he played his way into a conversation with some of the league’s best in his first year in the major leagues.

Cowser entered last season looking to build on a successful rookie campaign, but things hit a snag in a hurry. Cowser fractured his left thumb while diving into first base in Baltimore’s fourth game of the season. The Orioles leadoff hitter eventually reached the 60-day injured list, and did not return until June 2.

Cowser played his best baseball shortly after returning from the IL. He slashed .250/.310/.550 with six home runs, six doubles, 14 RBIs, and a 135 OPS+ over 22 games. Unfortunately, the league adjusted after a successful month.

Opposing pitchers eventually realized that Cowser could crush a fastball, but he struggled mightily against soft balls. According to Baseball Savant, Cowser hit .242 with 12 homers and 10 doubles against fastballs. However, he hit just .120 with three homers and three doubles against breaking balls (Slider, Curve, Knuckle, Sweeper, Slurve) and .167 with one HR and one 2B against offspeed pitches (Split, Change, Fork Screw). His Whiff percentage jumped from 23.2% against heaters to 47.7% off of breaking balls and 45.5% against offspeed pitches.

Cowser suffered a concussion in early August and missed another 10 games. When he returned, pitchers continued to make him look silly with offspeed tosses. Fortunately for the Milk Man, pitchers still had to bring the heat every once in a while. Cowser did enough damage against heaters to tally 16 homers in only 92 games. The number was good for second on the Orioles as Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg tied for the team lead with 17. However, Holliday and Henderson tallied the blasts in ~150 games compared to Cowser’s 92.

Cowser entered the season as a capable center fielder, but he yielded the position when Cedric Mullins played the field. When the O’s dealt Mullins at the deadline, many expected Cowser to immediately take his place in center field, but the O’s initially refrained from playing Cowser up the middle on a routine basis. Tony Mansolino told reporters that he wanted to limit the pressure on Cowser while he worked things out offensively. When all was said and done, Cowser started 45 games in center field compared to 41 in left field.

Cowser may not feature the same speed as Mullins, but he possesses a much stronger arm. The 25-year-old should begin next season as the O’s primary center field unless the Birds acquire additional talent from outside the organization.

It shouldn’t take an all world hitting coach to identify what Cowser needs to work on before next season. The former first-round pick must find a way to keep pitcher’s honest with offspeed pitches and cut down on strikeouts. His 35.6 K% ranked as one of the worst totals in MLB last season, and his 34.6 Whiff% did not help. When Cowser makes contact, he can do damage, but the Orioles need him to make contact more often in 2026.