Within the aftermath of their elimination by the hands of the Royals, the Orioles introduced that rookie outfielder Colton Cowser broke his left hand. There’s no indication the harm would require surgical procedure, but it surely may have some degree of impression on Cowser’s offseason.
The harm occurred on one of the vital consequential performs of tonight’s loss. The lefty-hitting outfielder got here up towards Okay.C. reliever Angel Zerpa with the bases loaded and one out in a 1-1 recreation within the backside of the fifth. On a 1-2 depend, Zerpa threw a 97 MPH fastball nicely up and in. Cowser nonetheless swung on the pitch, which struck him in his high hand (video hyperlink). He was known as out on strikes and Zerpa escaped the inning when he received Adley Rutschman to floor out. Kansas Metropolis scored within the subsequent half-inning and would maintain on for a 2-1 victory.
Baltimore scored simply as soon as (on a Cedric Mullins house run) within the two-game sweep. It’s clearly not the best way Coswer or the staff needed to finish the 12 months, although the previous fifth total decide had a powerful displaying total. Cowser hit 24 homers with a .242/.321/.447 slash over 561 plate appearances. He’ll very seemingly be a finalist in AL Rookie of the 12 months balloting.
Cowser proved himself to be a professional energy risk, although he fanned in additional than 30% of his plate appearances. The quantity of swing-and-miss in his recreation has all the time been the largest query mark. He’ll have to make extra constant contact to turn into an elite hitter, however the energy and powerful protection in left discipline already make him a superb on a regular basis participant.
The O’s might be in for a shakeup within the outfield. Anthony Santander is a number of weeks from free company. He’ll obtain and reject a qualifying supply on the heels of his 44-homer marketing campaign. If Santander walks, the O’s may plug Heston Kjerstad into the nook reverse Cowser. Baltimore reportedly thought-about dealing Mullins this previous summer season. The previous All-Star heart fielder was mired in a months-long stoop on the time, however he discovered his stride with a .266/.374/.457 line within the second half. Mullins is headed into his closing season of arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting an $8.7MM wage.