Colton Cowser

Colton Cowser

24-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Baltimore Orioles
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Cowser made his big-league debut in early-July, and while he played regularly for brief stretches, he never got going at the plate and was sent back to Triple-A in mid-August. From there, he helped lead the Norfolk Tides to the Triple-A National Championship, hitting a grand slam in the title game against the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate. The No. 5 overall pick in 2021, Cowser seemingly mastered the highest level of the minors, slashing .300/.417/.520 with 17 home runs, nine steals, a 26.8 K% and a 16.0 BB% in 87 games. He had a 110-mph maxEV at Triple-A and a 105-mph 90th percentile exit velocity, so Cowser projects for at least average game pop (20-25 homers over a full prime season). He's an above-average runner with a plus arm, so he can play all three outfield spots as needed. Even when he was struggling in the majors, Cowser was walking almost 17 percent of the time, and he has never had a walk rate below 10 percent in pro ball, so he still has a chance to lead off long-term for this loaded young lineup. However, in the short term, he'll likely be in the bottom half while sitting against some lefties. Baltimore's trade activity this winter will dictate whether Cowser opens at Triple-A or in the majors. Read Past Outlooks
RANKSFrom Preseason
$Signed a one-year contract with the Orioles in March of 2024.
Continues early-season success
OFBaltimore Orioles
April 22, 2024
Cowser went 1-for-4 with a solo home run against the Angels in a 4-2 win Monday.
ANALYSIS
Cowser accounted for Baltimore's final run with a seventh-inning solo shot off Reid Detmers. It was the young slugger's sixth long ball of the campaign and his second in as many games. Cowser looked lost facing major-league batting for the first time last season, posting a .115/.286/.148 slash line with a 28.6 percent strikeout rate over 77 plate appearances. He's turned things around dramatically to start this season, however, recording a .364/.400/.800 slash line along with 12 extra-base hits, 10 runs, 17 RBI and three thefts through 60 plate appearances.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
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Scoring
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
1
3
6
2
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
2
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+10%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+16%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+11%
OPS vs LHP
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .846 26 7 2 3 1 .227 .346 .500
Since 2022vs Right .766 120 19 4 18 3 .222 .342 .424
2024vs Left 1.020 17 5 2 2 1 .267 .353 .667
2024vs Right 1.179 52 6 4 15 2 .356 .423 .756
2023vs Left .476 9 2 0 1 0 .143 .333 .143
2023vs Right .428 68 13 0 3 1 .111 .279 .148
2022vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+17%
OPS on Road
2024
 
 
+5%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+106%
OPS on Road
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .711 62 12 2 5 3 .222 .323 .389
Since 2022Away .835 84 14 4 16 1 .224 .357 .478
2024Home 1.109 31 5 2 5 2 .379 .419 .690
2024Away 1.169 38 6 4 12 1 .290 .395 .774
2023Home .266 31 7 0 0 1 .040 .226 .040
2023Away .548 46 8 0 4 0 .167 .326 .222
2022Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Colton Cowser compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.38
 
BB Rate
11.6%
 
K Rate
30.4%
 
BABIP
.412
 
ISO
.400
 
AVG
.333
 
OBP
.406
 
SLG
.733
 
OPS
1.139
 
wOBA
.476
 
Exit Velocity
91.2 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
40.0%
 
Barrels/PA
10.1%
 
Expected BA
.287
 
Expected SLG
.600
 
Sprint Speed
25.3 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
45.0%
 
Line Drive %
20.0%
 
Fly Ball %
35.0%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Colton Cowser See More
MLB FAAB Factor: More Than the NFL Draft Happening
Yesterday
 Jorge Martin, check in with Thursday FAAB, and his pickups include the Orioles' Heston Kjerstad who might hit his way to the lineup before too long.
DraftKings MLB: Tuesday Breakdown
3 days ago
Stacking some Orioles bats Tuesday is worth considering against the Angels.
MLB DFS Picks: FanDuel Plays and Strategy for Tuesday, April 23
3 days ago
Tuesday's top MLB DFS options on FanDuel include a wealth of affordable stacking possibilities on the Orioles, including Gunnar Henderson.
Latest Fantasy Rumors
Appears to be untouchable
OFBaltimore Orioles
October 29, 2023
Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com writes that Cowser "appears to be untouchable" in potential trade proposals.
ANALYSIS
It seems likely that the Orioles will trade one of their talented young position players this winter to free up certain logjams and perhaps bolster the pitching staff, but Cowser probably won't be made available in such scenarios. The 23-year-old slashed just .115/.286/.148 over his first 77 major-league plate appearances this season, but he registered a .937 OPS in 87 games with Triple-A Norfolk and can play all three outfield spots. He should be a consideration for the Opening Day roster in 2024.
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
The Orioles are going to be quite good, sooner than later, and Cowser has a chance to be their leadoff hitter. The No. 5 overall pick from 2021 started the year at High-A and finished the year at Triple-A, with his best run coming in 49 games at Double-A where he rode a .446 BABIP to a .341/.469/.568 slash line with 10 home runs, a 16.1 BB% and a 25.4 K%. In addition to being an on-base maven (career .422 OBP), Cowser has generally graded out as an above-average runner, but he only attempted three steals over the final 72 games after going 17-for-18 on stolen-base attempts in the first 65 games. That said, there's no reason he can't steal double-digit bases in the majors if he has the green light. Cowser's 19 home runs in 627 plate appearances accurately represents where his power projects. The main things to keep an eye on are his strikeouts and batting average. A 27.9 K% while walking 15% of the time and logging an .877 OPS isn't a death knell, but he hasn't proven yet that he will be a high-AVG hitter against top-end pitching. Cowser is a center fielder by trade, but he can also move to left, depending where the need is in Baltimore. He should debut this season.
Cowser has put up eye-popping numbers at mid-major Sam Houston State and as a 21-year-old in complex ball and at Low-A, but we're still waiting for him to perform against strong competition. That's not his fault, but the context of his statistics is relevant. He was a career .374/.490/.680 hitter in the Southland Conference and hit .375/.490/.492 with two home runs and seven steals in 32 games in the lower levels of the minors after the Orioles gave him an under-slot $4.9 million bonus after taking him with the No. 5 overall pick. His hit tool is clearly his top fantasy-relevant tool, as it's unclear how long he will maintain above-average speed and he is not a lock to tap into 20-homer power. The hope is that he can be a strong leadoff hitter for an improved Orioles lineup by 2024.
More Fantasy News
Opens scoring Sunday
OFBaltimore Orioles
April 21, 2024
Cowser went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Sunday's 5-0 win over the Royals.
ANALYSIS
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Resting versus LHP
OFBaltimore Orioles
April 20, 2024
Cowser isn't in the Orioles' lineup for Saturday's game against the Royals.
ANALYSIS
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Picks up third steal
OFBaltimore Orioles
April 18, 2024
Cowser went 1-for-3 with a stolen base in Wednesday's 4-2 win over the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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Homers again Sunday
OFBaltimore Orioles
April 14, 2024
Cowser went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Sunday's 6-4 win over the Brewers.
ANALYSIS
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Continues torrid run
OFBaltimore Orioles
April 12, 2024
Cowser went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, a double and a walk in Friday's 11-1 loss to the Brewers.
ANALYSIS
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