![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6C5HNE5CGVF7HFAYHDIMCF5UPA.jpg\")
Cowser played center field at Sam Houston State and in the minor leagues before manning the position late last season for the Orioles. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\nSARASOTA, Fla. \u2014 Of all the Orioles players this spring, there may be none with a larger range of possibilities entering 2026 than Colton Cowser. At his best, he was a rookie of the year finalist. At his lowest, he struck out in 35% of his at-bats.<\/p>\n
The reality may be somewhere in between, but the latest twist in Cowser\u2019s path is his defensive position. He is not new to center field. To say that would be to ignore his time at Sam Houston State and the minor leagues \u2014 as well as the final few months of the 2025 season, when he replaced the offloaded Cedric Mullins.<\/p>\n
Still, Cowser is entering the season as Baltimore\u2019s primary center fielder, and for a team with postseason aspirations, the duties that go with that are extensive. His bat is a major question. But so, too, is how he will handle the captaincy of the outfield at the highest level of the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a mentality of knowing you\u2019re commanding the outfield out there, you have priority over everyone on the field,\u201d Cowser said.<\/p>\n
He channeled that energy in the corner outfield positions, too, he said. The 26-year-old would call for the ball until the center fielder made it clear it was his. But now the communication rests on his shoulders \u2014 the prepitch planning, adjusting where his corner outfielders stand.<\/p>\n
This will also be the first time since 2020 anyone except Mullins will patrol center field on opening day. <\/p>\n
There has been tremendous consistency in Baltimore for more than a decade. Austin Hays started in center field in 2020, and Mullins started there in 2019 and every year from 2021-25. From 2008-18, Adam Jones held the position.<\/p>\n
This could be a changing of the guard, ushering in a new era in which Cowser stakes his claim in center. Or he\u2019s more of a holdover until Enrique Bradfield Jr. or another defensive maestro arrives, in which case Cowser would return to left field.<\/p>\n
The time Cowser spent in center to end last season was vital experience. Jason Bourgeois, the first base and outfield coach, said \u201cgetting his feet wet\u201d toward the end of a losing season gave Cowser a base from which to grow on defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was huge to be able to go out there, be aggressive, make mistakes and learn from it,\u201d Bourgeois said. \u201cHe\u2019s bought into a lot of the reactionary stuff, and right now I feel like he\u2019s in a great spot. He has adjustability. A great athlete. He gets off the ball really well, and he closes on balls really well. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s about spatial awareness, right?\u201d Bourgeois continued. \u201cCommunication, being a leader, knowing where those guys are who are next to you. He\u2019s taken that to the forefront, and he\u2019s really, really impressed me, and I think a lot of the coaching staff around here, on how he\u2019s going about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manager Craig Albernaz said, especially this last week of spring, he has noticed the work Cowser has done with Bourgeois on prepitch communication and initial reaction times \u201ccome to fruition.\u201d Cowser made a play against the wall Thursday in Tampa against the New York Yankees that drew Albernaz\u2019s praise.<\/p>\n
Still, two scouts for opposing clubs who have observed the Orioles closely this spring said Cowser isn\u2019t likely to grow into an above-average center fielder. The scouts, speaking anonymously to candidly analyze players, don\u2019t view Cowser as a liability in center. They noted his strong arm. But, at the same time, Cowser\u2019s defensive ceiling doesn\u2019t extend high. <\/p>\n
From a long-term standpoint, they view Cowser as a strong corner outfielder.<\/p>\n
For the time being, at least, the Orioles need him to be steady in center. And they need him to recapture his form at the plate. In 2024, Cowser hit 24 home runs and produced a .768 on-base-plus-slugging percentage as Baltimore\u2019s everyday left fielder. Injuries and inconsistencies held him to a .655 OPS in 92 games last year. <\/p>\n
Cowser entered the spring with the goal of maintaining weight on his back hip longer, which could allow him to see fastballs deeper into the strike zone and adjust more easily to off-speed pitches. The results this spring haven\u2019t been eye-popping \u2014 he has a .225 average and .554 OPS \u2014 but Cowser said he has focused more on his approach than the outcomes.<\/p>\n
Cowser played center field at Sam Houston State and in the minor leagues before manning the position late last season for the Orioles. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been meeting with the hitting guys, and we\u2019re trying to just develop a good routine, a good plan, to almost \u2026 diagnose it,\u201d Cowser said. \u201cLike, in the cage, if one thing is happening in the cage with the ball flight, diagnosing it by going to a checklist like, it\u2019s this or it\u2019s this.\u201d<\/p>\n
In doing so, Cowser hopes to find his rhythm by opening day, which arrives in less than a week. For the Orioles to bounce back from a poor 2025 season, improved performances from Cowser would go a long way.<\/p>\n
At the least, he will need to be solid in center \u2014 carrying a mentality that makes it clear he\u2019s the leader of that group.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t play center field without being that guy. And he knows that,\u201d Bourgeois said. \u201cHe\u2019s played with guys who are leaders out there and who led the way not only vocally but by example. He\u2019s been around long enough to know what that looks like, what that\u2019s supposed to be like, and he\u2019s taken accountability for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. \u2014 Of all the Orioles players this spring, there may be none with a larger range…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,182,4635,4,62,9930,12212,125,151],"class_list":["post-635333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-florida","tag-grapefruit-league","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-nyy","tag-os","tag-orioles","tag-spring-training"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116267107597609484","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}