Can Heston Kjerstad be this season's Colton Cowser?

The Orioles’ outfield is crowded. 

Three everyday starters occupy patches of grass in left, center, and right field. As the 4th outfielder, how can one of the best prospects in the game prove himself without consistent at-bats? 

If this conversation about Heston Kjerstad sounds familiar, it’s because I wasn’t talking about Heston Kjerstad. It’s the conversation that many of us were having at this time last year surrounding Colton Cowser.  

Austin Hays was fresh off an All-Star campaign in 2023. Cedric Mullins hadn’t relinquished his grasp on his center field role since his breakout season in 2021. Anthony Santander had played over 300 games in 2022 and 2023, combining for 61 home runs and a .785 OPS. The starting outfield was set in proverbial stone.  

If Colton Cowser was going to prove himself at the big league level, he was going to have to earn his playing time.  

So that’s exactly what he did.  

The rookie came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. In his 28 games in April and March, Cowser hit .303 with 13 extra-base hits, good for an OPS over 1.000. The five-tool prospect earned the AL’s Rookie of the Month honor for the month of April, and began to solidify his role as an everyday player.  

Granted, some circumstances aided Cowser’s ascent. Hays hit just .111 before an injury in late April, and Cowser was the obvious lineup solution. But it was Cowser’s stellar play that earned him more playing time, not just contingency. By the time Hays returned, his rookie counterpart had bought more property in the left field grass, and he wasn’t planning on moving.  

Heading into the 2025 season, Kjerstad is presented with an incredibly similar set of circumstances to Cowser’s. All three outfield spots seem to have everyday starters: Cowser, Mullins, and the newly-signed Tyler O’Neill.  

Cowser, a lefty, could platoon with the right-handed hitting Hays. And Hays, coming off a stellar 2023, had struggled with injuries throughout his career, so Cowser would be ready to fill his void if needed. Kjerstad, a lefty, could see time as a platoon option for the right-handed hitting O’Neill. And O’Neill, coming off a stellar 2024, has struggled with injuries throughout his career, and Kjerstad should be ready to fill his void if needed.  

See where I’m going with this?  

Of course, there are some differences between the two instances. Some that help Kjerstad’s case and some that hurt.  

Let’s start with the hindrances. Many O’s fans have been quick to place Kjerstad on the hypothetical trade block with the additions of Ramón Laureano and Dylan Carlson.  

But it’s important to note that Laureano and Carlson play very different roles than Kjerstad. Each excels against left-handed pitching, whereas a majority of Kjerstad’s opportunities in the big leagues have come against right-handed pitchers. Laureano and Carlson can also play all three outfield positions, while Kjerstad will just stick to the corners. 

On the other hand, the most obvious positive to point to in Kjerstad’s case is that he has excelled in a limited opportunity at the big league level.  

In Cowser’s 26 games in 2023, he hit just .115. That didn’t stop him from becoming one of the best rookies in baseball in 2024. Kjerstad’s bat, on the other hand, has translated almost immediately. In 52 games in the majors, the Arkansas product has a .746 OPS and 116 OPS+, with 100 being the league average in that metric. That includes significant jumps from 2023 to 2024 too: up 20 points in batting average and 70 points in on-base percentage.  

Simply put: if Kjerstad proves himself to be one of the nine best position players on the Orioles in 2025, he will get playing time. The growth we've already seen would indicate that another leap is not out of the question.  

Early opportunities could present themselves in the form of a potential platoon with Tyler O’Neill in the outfield and with Gary Sánchez and Ryan Mountcastle at designated hitter, with Kjerstad being the left-handed counterpart to their righty power bats. If Kjerstad can capitalize on those at-bats, his name will be penciled into the lineup card more often than not.  

Colton Cowser didn’t have an obvious path to playing time entering the 2024 season. Heston Kjerstad doesn’t have an obvious path to playing time entering the 2025 season. But Brandon Hyde will put the best nine players in the lineup in the pursuit of another AL East crown. And if Kjerstad does his best Cowser impression, that nine might just include both the former second and fifth overall picks.  

Cowser’s Star Wars knowledge might be the hardest part of that impersonation act to nail, though.