SARASOTA, Fla. — Colton Cowser is on the cusp of taking over the very role the Orioles saw for him when they drafted him fifth overall in 2021. He just has show it belongs to him.
After playing left field for the majority of the first year and a half of his MLB career, Cowser stepped into the everyday center fielder job in mid-August last summer after the Orioles traded Cedric Mullins to the New York Mets. His season was already derailed by injuries, and his production at the plate regressed from that of his promising rookie campaign. But in the field, Cowser showed the promise of a player who could be trusted to fill the position once held by Baltimore greats such as Adam Jones, Brady Anderson and Paul Blair.
The Orioles’ confidence in Cowser was evident in their offseason moves — or their lack thereof at center field. Baltimore acquired Taylor Ward to play Cowser’s old position of left field and signed glove-first outfielder Leody Taveras to fill out their bench. Otherwise, they kept their outfield largely intact, leaving Cowser as the lone candidate for regular at-bats in center field. He arrived to camp with the mindset of owning the position.
“Just overall in center field, I feel like I play it pretty well,” Cowser said. “The initial first step is the big thing for me. I feel like my closing speed is pretty good and it’s just been re-emphasized as well from the front office and more the analytical data and stuff. So, I think that just the initial first step and we’ve been preaching reaction is king here, so just doing that stuff has been really good.”
Though Baltimore brought in different coaches from the ones who watched him up close in the second half last season, familiarity with a key member of manager Craig Albernaz’s staff helped him get a headstart on his defensive work. First base coach Jason Bourgeois, who also oversees outfield defense, used the same hitting coach as Cowser — Sid Holland at Proway Baseball Academy in Houston — and their relationship went back years.
After being hired, Bourgeois met up with Cowser in Texas over the offseason to discuss his defense and go over some of the finer points of his game he stood to improve. They focused on his positioning, putting himself in the best situation to get to a flyball before it’s even hit, and how to communicate with his left and right fielders so that he can take command of the outfield in the way center fielders must to limit mistakes.
“He’s just a great athlete,” Bourgeois said. “He gets off the ball extremely well. His routes are legit. He has the burst. He has all the metric numbers to get it done. Now, the experience needs to come into play. High-pressure situations, decision making, things of that nature, just to kind of prep him beforehand mentally.”
The advanced analytics painted a strong picture of Cowser’s defensive work last season. Statcast’s Fielding Run Value metric, which estimates a run value of players’ range and throwing ability, pegged Cowser at plus-two runs above average in center field from Aug. 17 — the day he took over the position for good — through the end of the year. That tied for fourth best among the 18 center fielders with at least 200 innings over that span.
Where the Orioles will aim to be cautious with Cowser is in situations in which he has to go back on flyballs. He ran full speed into the outfield wall at Camden Yards on June 12 last season trying to track a ball that cleared the fence and he played through multiple injuries throughout the year. Cowser’s instincts are what helped set the foundation for a potential star in the outfield, but his aggressiveness will need to be fine-tuned to keep him healthy.
“We don’t want him running into walls right there, but that’s that experience piece,” Bourgeois said. “That’s part of the progression. … You’re going to have something that you have to work on and most importantly, I think that is, is just the aspect of situational defense. Is this a time where I can be aggressive? Do I need to play it safe? Not trying to be a hero out there. Everybody loves that guy that dives all over the place until they see the scoreboard and it just cost them the ballgame.”
His defensive potential is easy to spot. The Orioles invited Jones, their five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove Award winner, to come into camp as a guest coach this spring and he spent much of his first day last week working with the outfielders and talking to Cowser in particular off to the side.
“Obviously, he’s a physically gifted athlete,” Jones said. “Athleticism is insane. You got to go take it. Nothing’s given to you in the major leagues, as I know you guys are well aware of and he’s hungry for it. Definitely, I’m in his ear a lot because the talent is right there and I want to see him succeed. So, anything I can do to help him, I’m on him, but at the end of the day, he has to play and he has to go out there and do the job and he wants it. So, the proof is in the pudding. He’s got to go out there and show it.”
Cowser will have to prove he can put his offensive struggles of last season behind him, but he showed two years ago when he was the runner-up for the American League Rookie of the Year Award that his bat could play at the MLB level. Center field is a challenge he will be taking on in full for the first time in 2026 and if he falters, the Orioles could soon turn to one of their up-and-coming outfield prospects Dylan Beavers or Enrique Bradfield Jr.
Right now, the opportunity belongs to Cowser. This is his chance to ensure it’s his to keep.
Have a news tip? Contact Matt Weyrich at mweyrich@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/ByMattWeyrich and instagram.com/bymattweyrich. Matt appears as a regular host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast.