Asche confident in Cowser's ability to adapt in majors

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Cody Asche gives the compliment and explains how it also can be a curse.

“We’re really fortunate, we have a lot of really good hitters who are almost too good for the minor leagues,” said Asche, the Orioles’ offensive strategy coach, as he sat in the visiting dugout at Tropicana Field before a weekend game. “They don’t get to quite learn the lessons that players of less caliber have to learn when the competition gets better.”

Colton Cowser is in the same boat while navigating the choppy waters in the major leagues.

Cowser made his long-awaited debut at Yankee Stadium on July 5 and went 1-for-3 with an RBI, walk and run scored. Media swarmed his locker before and after the game. The smile didn’t leave his face. Teammates were excited to have his talents and fun personality with them again.

It almost looked too easy.

The Orioles closed out their series against the Rays yesterday by starting Cowser in right field and batting him eighth. He snapped an 0-for-15 streak Thursday with a single in the seventh inning and plated the go-ahead run in the 10^th with a sacrifice fly.

Cowser was hitless in four at-bats yesterday, leaving him 4-for-36 overall with three RBIs, seven walks, eight strikeouts and 10 runs scored. He smoked a ball 105.6 mph at shortstop Wander Franco in the second inning and lined to left fielder Randy Arozarena in the fourth. Cowser reached on Isaac Paredes’ fielding error leading off the seventh and later scored on Anthony Santander’s single, and he struck out in the ninth but reached on a wild pitch.

Asche isn’t floored by the low level of production at this early stage of Cowser’s career.

“When I see Cowser over at Aberdeen, a little bit in Bowie, last year in Norfolk, this year in Norfolk, I think when pitchers make him doubt himself a little bit, he gets a little passive and the ball gets on him a little bit, and you see the middle takes, the kind of off-balance swings, a lot of at-bats with two strikes,” said Asche, a major league infielder/outfielder for five seasons who joined the Orioles last year as upper-level hitting coordinator.

“I think it’s just the fact of seeing new stuff, seeing a little sharper stuff, plants a little bit of a seed of doubt, gets you in between pitches a little bit. It’s kind of, I wouldn’t say a ‘trend,’ but Colton’s gone through this at every level. A period of time where he’s just in between pitches for whatever reason. When he comes out of it, it’s usually for the better, and I see that right now.”

The Orioles promoted Cowser after he batted .330/.459/.537 with 10 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 40 RBIs and 48 walks in 56 games. And after they lost six of their last seven games. He recovered from his quadriceps injury and had nothing else to prove.

He walked straight into the heat of a pennant race, carrying enormous expectations as the fifth-overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Sam Houston State. MLB Pipeline ranked him as the No. 14 prospect in baseball.

“You come up in Yankee Stadium and you’re gung-ho and you have all this new stuff, and that’s a really good pitching staff,” Asche said. “Then you go to Minnesota and face another really good pitching staff. And then we face the Marlins, who have a lot of velocity on their pitching staff. Then you face the Dodgers, who can game plan with the best of them, and if you have a weakness, they’ll exploit it. And now you’re in Tropicana Field, and it’s another good pitching staff. He got thrown into the deep end. I think he’s handled himself well.

“I think the opposing pitchers have done a good job of getting Colton just a little bit in between, and maybe just planting a little bit of doubt in him. And like every good player, it’s speed of adjustment kind of tells you how good they are, and Colton is not unlike the Gunnar Hendersons and the Jordan Westburgs of the world. Even the Adley Rutschmans of the world, who have come up here and had to adjust.

“We’re pretty fortunate that we have players who are very capable of adjusting quickly. They want the information presented to them so they can adjust. So, kudos to them. I would expect Colton’s next two weeks are better than his first two weeks, and the two weeks after that are better than those.”

Cowser has also walked into a supportive environment, which he was introduced to back in spring training in Sarasota.

“I'm feeling better and everyone’s been great in the clubhouse,” he said. “Getting a lot of advice, and it’s helping a lot, especially processing that. I’m excited moving forward.”

Cowser mentioned veterans like James McCann, Austin Hays and Cedric Mullins as teammates who provided counsel. But there are many others. He can go down the entire roster.

“It’s pretty much everyone in the clubhouse. They’ve been awesome. It’s been really good,” he said.

“Some of the guys I don’t know very well, I’m starting to get to know them better. They’re making an effort to get to know me better. And a lot of the younger guys, too, I already know. It’s a really good balance.”

“I think all the guys here are great guys and always want to help each other get better and be better players and people," said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle.

“It seems like these young guys get to meet the big leaguers in spring training and hang around them. That helps a lot. A good, young group of guys, and nobody is super-intimidating to talk to or anything. Just a great collective group and very open to talking and not trying to shove all the rookies to the side.

Mountcastle knows life as a high draft choice and hyped prospect. He’s talked to Cowser about adapting to the majors and alleviating the pressure. How to get back to being the hitter who slashed .292/.420/.500 in 83 games over two Triple-A seasons and climbed prospect rankings.

The advice isn't complicated.

“I told him to just relax out there and do whatever,” Mountcastle said.

“He’s a great player. Coming up to the big leagues, especially with how good the team’s doing and how high leverage these games are, it’s not easy, but I think he’s putting together good at-bats. Just not finding holes and getting hits, but hopefully it’ll come soon. I think he’s all right. He’s a great player. I’m excited for his future.”

Asche knows what makes Cowser a special hitter, and these qualities transfer to the majors.

Give it time.

“Just a really premiere idea of where the strike zone is,” Asche said. “I think it takes a lot of guys a lot longer to understand that at a higher level, on certain pitch types and velocities and speeds, and I think since Colton was drafted he just has that ability to see pitches. He can be aggressive, he can be passive. He has that kind of throttle. It’s not just, ‘I’m only going to take until I get a strike,’ or ‘I’m only going to be aggressive and ambush.’

“I think he kind of has that advanced ability to have multiple types of approaches within the same at-bat and within the same game. That’s what I see from him. When he’s confident, it’s pretty electric.”

To keep struggling would be shocking.