O's Colton Cowser: Bigger bat producing more hits

It’s been said that “baseball is a game of inches.” Sometimes it’s less than that.

To hear Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser tell it, a ½ inch is making a difference for him. He cites two things that have helped turn his bat around. He is raking now with a 13-game hitting streak since the All-Star game.

A nice mental reset at the break helped and so too has using a bigger bat, one a bit heavier and one that is 34 inches. A bit longer than the 33 ½ inch model he previously used.

Going into the All-Star break, Cowser was 4-for-31 (.129) with 12 strikeouts his last 10 games.

Coming out of the break he's been on a roll and his hitting streak was extended Wednesday afternoon with a homer and single. Over the 13 games he is batting 19-for-50 which is .380/.429/.660/1.089 with two doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs.

“I made a bat change," he told reporters postgame yesterday. "I started swinging a 34-inch bat right out of the break. I don’t know if that is changing anything crazy for me. Think overall just think confidence. Had a good mental reset during the break. Trying to put together quality at-bats and help the team win. Doing anything I can.” 

Cowser was excited for Jackson Holliday, who hit his first big league homer in yesterday’s win, and it was a grand slam in the last of the fifth inning.

“It was great. Great. Really happy for him. He’s got one more Eutaw Street homer than me. I was messing with him about that. Really happy for him,” he said.

Like Cowser last year, Holliday came to the majors and was sent back to the minors this season. Did Cowser give him any guidance about handling that?

“It is kind of one those situations where you want to keep your head and keep grinding. Jackson is a very humble guy, a very hard-working guy. That was something that was not going to last. He’s really been playing well in Triple-A and I’m excited to watch him.”

Several years ago, after the Orioles made some deadline trades, then Oriole Kevin Millar joked to the media to “leave the clubhouse, so I can start work on building new team chemistry.”

The 2024 Orioles may have to do some of that after all the trades Tuesday.

“I’m curious to see how things are going to go,” said Cowser. “I have never been part of a trade deadline like that. Knowing our clubhouse and knowing the leadership we do have, I’m not going to be surprised if we jell together pretty quickly.”

The road trip begins: The Orioles have scored 39 runs with 54 hits in going 4-1 over their past five games. They may be starting to hit again and a team average of .321 and .977 OPS in that span is encouraging. Over their last eight games they have scored 54 runs (6.8 per game) in going 5-3 while batting .295 with an OPS of .896.

Tonight, they begin a challenging three-city road trip with four games in Cleveland, three in Toronto and three in Florida against Tampa Bay.

They will play this trip without infielder Jordan Westburg, who yesterday suffered a fractured right hand.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias met with local media yesterday to discuss the flurry of trades Tuesday night. He said the club had fortified its roster, upgraded its pitching staff and that the Orioles have "as good a shot as anybody."

He praised the new ownership for their support during the deadline and said, "the ownership group is going to maximize the potential of this franchise."

The O's took on some money in the trades, like the $18 million due right-handed starter Zach Eflin next season. The thought that the Orioles could be spending more in the next few years seems very realistic. 

Elias was asked if the O's recent run of losing changed in any way how he approached the deadline?

“You know, when you are living through it, it has a feeling of highlighting your apparent weaknesses a little bit. Maybe that is, kind of, a blessing in disguise sometimes going into the deadline. But you don’t want to overreact to it too. This is a really good team. We have an idea of what this team looks like when it’s not in a funk.

“I think the team would have been fine without a flurry of trades, but certainly we feel a lot more fortified now and able to withstand injuries or downtrends in performance now that we have more quality major league players here in the fold. Particularly on the pitching side – two accomplished starters, two accomplished relievers – that’s a big boost for us.”

Elias took a flier on outfielder Eloy Jiménez, who is batting .240/.297/.345/.642 in 65 games with just five home runs. The one-time highly ranked prospect was an AL Silver Slugger in the shortened 2020 season, when his OPS was .891. For his career his batting average is .270 and OPS is .790, which produces a 114 OPS+.

“He’s had injuries," Elias said of Jiménez, 27. "Not a lot has gone to plan this year. You never know. Our underlying view of his skill level is still that this guy can hit. And particularly against left-handed pitching. He’s a big presence and I think it’s going to be fun, and we’ll see where it goes. I know Brandon Hyde has some history with him from the Cubs, they are excited to reunite the two of them. I think it will be a nice little mix for our locker room too."

This season Jiménez, who is likely to get most of his at-bats as a DH, is hitting .304 with a .730 OPS off lefties. For his career he bats .264/.760 versus southpaws.

Elias made some nice comments about outfielder Austin Hays, who was traded to Philadelphia.

"I want to thank Austin Hays, we talked obviously when he left, but just publicly I want to thank him. He is one of the main people that got this organization turned around and restored it to where it belongs through a lot of hard work and a lot of character. I'm thrilled that he is in such a fun, excellent environment. That he is up there with Philly. I hope we play him in the World Series frankly," he said.