Kaleb Cowart, what is their to say about him other than… “Ugh.” Once the crown jewel of the Angels system, Cowart instead appears to have followed in the grand tradition of Angels third base prospects that went bust in a big way. He’s still young enough that some hope remains, but how much?
Kaleb Cowart
In 10 words or less: Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.
Position: 3B Born: 6/2/92
Bats: L Throws: R
Height: 6’3″ Weight: 190
Last Year Rank: #2
2014 Season Stats
[table id=54 /]
OFFENSE
Contact – B. Cowart is still doing a decent enough job making contact with pitches, even after he scrapped switch-hitting and is going only from the left side. The problem is, he isn’t doing anything with the ball once he makes contact. There are a ton of rolled over-weak ground balls and infield pop-ups.
Power – B. The strength is most certainly there and we’ve seen him in Spring Training drive the ball, especially in batting practice. Even in the low minors he was staying back and slamming the ball with authority. It’s just not happening in AA, even though he added close to 30 pounds of muscle onto his frame in the last couple years.
Discipline – B-. If the batting average were higher, this number would skyrocket. Cowart has a very good idea what a ball and a strike are. Pitchers just don’t fear him at all and have realized anything up in the zone or on the outer half, he’s powerless to drive.
Speed – B. 26 SB’s. I mean there’s one nice part of all the work he’s done in the weight room. Instead of slowing down as many predicted he’s actually gotten faster. He’s a very good base-runner.
DEFENSE
Arm – A. We’ve been over it year after year, Kaleb’s arm at 3B is virtually unrivaled in minor league baseball. Really eye-opening when you see it.
Fielding – B+. One of the best defensive 3B I’ve ever seen. Picks it like Callaspo did, throws it like Caminiti used to.
Range – B+. Another nice byproduct of the added strength/speed. There’s hardly a ball that he can’t get to that another 3B somewhere else can.
OVERALL
Performance – F. Sometimes all the tools on earth mean nothing if you can’t put them to use in the game. Cowart was awful for the second consecutive year in AA. The good news is, he struck out less, walked more, stole a lot of bases and still played sparkling defense. He just can’t do anything with the ball when he hits it and that’s a major part of this game. He didn’t hit in AA, not in the AFL, and likely not anywhere now. The Angels have come to him with the idea of switching back to the mound, but this is something Cowart seems vehemently opposed to doing. Most scouts wanted to sign him as a pitcher out of high school because of his mid-to-high 90’s fastball, but he signed with the Angels specifically because they promised he’d be a hitter.
Projection – C. I just can’t see the projection in him anymore. Yeah, he has all the tools in the world, and if he puts it all together you have an all-star third baseman. But it’s just not happening. There isn’t even a slight pulse of it happening. If it does, I’d consider it a miracle. As it stands now, Cowart is a pinch running, late inning defensive specialist at 3B only. Just not sure there’s room for a guy like that on a major league roster. I think best-case scenario, some of the hits begin to fall, he builds confidence and breaks onto a major league roster and becomes a 3B that a bad team takes a chance on because lightning might strike.
Grade as a Prospect – C. This looks like a once promising prospect that has flamed out in AA. It happens all the time. I think the best thing Cowart has going for him is that someday he might switch back to the mound, and when that happens he could become a VERY good reliever down the road.
Estimated Time of Arrival – 2017 or 2019. I think if it happens at a 3B, another year at AA and a year at AAA would be in order and he’d be 25. Which is pretty normal. Otherwise, after next year he’ll go to the mound, spend 2016 training and building up his stamina in Arizona, get his feet wet in A ball in 2017 and then go to the highest levels in 2018 and break out in 2019, as a 27 year old.
2014 in Review*
Cripes, this is depressing. Coming off a disastrous 2013 campaign, there were a lot of questions for Kaleb Cowart to answer in 2014. He answered them all with a resounding, “NOPE.”
If you want to be technical about, Kaleb was “better” in 2014. He walked a little bit more (7.0% to 8.8%), struck out a little bit less (22.7% to 20.3%) and was a tiny bit more productive (.266 wOBA to .287 wOBA). Still, he was just dreadful with the bat. He was so bad that the Angels decided to have him stop switch-hitting.
Mind you, this wasn’t because Cowart was fine batting left-handed but a disaster from the right side. No, his splits were virtually even (.295 wOBA as LHB, .296 as RHB). The issue was that he was so incompetent from both sides that the Halos decided they only had the time (and patience) to try and fix one of his swings. That’s… not good.
Cowart did get to go to the Arizona Fall League this year, but that was less about him being a showcase prospect and more just trying to get him some more at-bats. As you can see in the stats above, that also didn’t go very well. But, hey, the dude sure can field his position, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.
Looking Ahead*
There was actually talk that Cowart might be converted into a pitcher this offseason, but the Angels decided to give him one more shot at hitting since he is still just 22. Of course, they just acquired Kyle Kubitza last week to be their left-hand swinging third baseman of the future, so you can see for yourself how much faith they have in Cowart turning things around.
Honestly, Cowart only ranks at #12 on our list because of his draft status and pedigree. If he had been an eighth round pick, he probably would have been an honorable mention. It really is a shame because Cowart isn’t some bad makeup guy whose attitude or lack of work ethic caught up with him. By all accounts he is a great teammate and hard worker. He just can’t figure out how to hit the ball with any authority.
If by some miracle Kaleb Cowart does figure it out at the dish, it is hard to seem him ever achieving the ceiling that he was once thought to have. Becoming a platoon option or below average starter is probably all the Halos could hope to get out of him, if that.
Maybe he should start stretching out that arm of his.
*As we do every year, the scouting reports and grades are provided by Scotty Allen while Garrett Wilson provides the 2014 in Review and Looking Ahead sections.
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