Top Baltimore Orioles prospects Colton Cowser and Joey Ortiz are being promoted from Double-A Bowie to Norfolk.
According to MLB Pipeline, Cowser is ranked #43 on their MLB Top 100 prospect list and #4 in the Orioles Top 30, while Ortiz is ranked #19 in the Top 30. Cowser is also ranked #92 according in Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list.
Cowser, 22, was born in Houston and was drafted by the Orioles in the first round (fifth overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Sam Houston State University. He started this season with High-A Aberdeen, where in 62 games he hit .258 (59-for-229) with four home runs and 22 RBI.
Cowser was promoted to Double-A Bowie on June 28 where he found a lot of success in 49 games, batting .341 (60-for-176) with 10 home runs and 33 RBI. In all, Cowser has played 111 games so far, hitting .294 (119-for-405) with 91 runs, 29 doubles, two triples, 14 home runs, 55 RBI, 81 walks and 18 stolen bases while slashing .422/.479/.901.
He leads full-season Orioles minor leaguers in on-base percentage, hits, and walks, while also ranking in average (2nd), OPS (2nd), doubles (2nd), runs (2nd), slugging (5th), extra-base hits (45, 5th), stolen bases (7th) and home runs (T-8th).
Ortiz, 23, was born in Garden Grove, Calif., and was drafted by the Orioles in the fourth round (108th overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft out of New Mexico State University. In 111 games with Bowie, Ortiz hit .269 (117-for-435) with 69 runs, 28 doubles, four triples, 15 home runs, 71 RBI and 41 walks. He slashed .337/.455/.792. He ranked among Eastern League leaders in doubles (3rd), extra-base hits (3rd), runs (3rd), RBI (T-3rd), extra-base hits (47, 5th) and average (10th).
With the addition of Cowser, the Tides have had six Top 100 prospects (MLB Pipeline) play for them this season, joining Adley Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez, DL Hall, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.
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Chris Graham
