This slumping Oriole is quietly rallying back from his slow start

The Baltimore Orioles have so many players who, through 50 games, have been incredibly disappointing, but among the crowd, Colton Cowser's struggles have stood out. Cowser came into the season expecting to be the Orioles everyday centerfielder, but less than 30 games into the season, he was performing so poorly at the plate that the team had no choice but to move him out of the starting lineup in favor of journeyman Leody Taveras.

The Orioles didn't come out and announce that Cowser wasn't going to be a starter, but he started 16 of the Orioles first 23 games and really only sat against lefties. During that stretch, Cowser slashed .167/.255/.188, and he was striking out in over 30% of his plate appearances. After the Orioles first game against the Royals, Cowser was riding an 0-13 with eight strikeouts, and around that time, the Orioles decided he couldn't be a starter anymore. In the team's 28 games, Cowser has only started 10.

Cowser played his way out of the Orioles lineup and now he's finding his way back

Being the one guy that the Orioles deem not good enough to regularly start on a team with plenty of players hitting below the Mendoza line has to be tough to stomach, but Cowser has taken his reduced playing time well. His defense has allowed him to get on the field in several games as a defensive replacement, and over the past few weeks, in a mix of pinch-hit and spot start opportunities, Cowser has looked much more like the player that the Orioles hoped he would be as a prospect and that he showed he could be in his rookie season.

Since May 8th, Cowser is hitting .294/.333/.471, and he finally hit his first home run of the season. Those are numbers that are much more in line with what he showed he could do as a rookie, and beyond the numbers, he has just looked a lot more comfortable and competitive at the plate. Before he got sent to the bench, his at-bats looked panicky and frankly hopeless. Over the last few weeks, Cowser's process has looked much stronger.

One of the most noticeable visual changes has been the addition of a leg kick to Cowser's swing. Over the past few years, Cowser has had a very simple swing. He mostly held pretty still and then took a short, sometimes almost imperceptible stride forward to get his swing off. The results with the new leg kick have been better (it would have been hard for them to be worse), so it will be interesting to see if this really is the key to helping Cowser address his obvious weaknesses against offspeed pitches. If it is, then the Orioles' hitting coaches have basically resurrected a four-win player.

There is a relevant caveat to discuss with this stretch. One is that while Cowser is sporting an impressive batting average over the last few weeks, with the exception of the home run he hit against Washington, he has not exactly been stinging the ball. He's had several base hits on balls well below the 95 mph hard hit threshold. The improved process and the increase in bat on ball have been great, but it would be misleading to describe this stretch as a "light show".

In Cowser's defense, however, he really doesn't need to be an elite offensive player to be worthy of everyday playing time. With his defensive ability, he just needs to be a league-average hitter to be a 2-3 win player worthy of an everyday spot in the lineup. So even if he loses some of the BABIP luck he's been having and the OPS dips from .804 down to mid to low .700s, that is fine, that's still a good player that many teams would be happy to have.

With the uptick in production at the plate, Cowser should see a corresponding uptick in playing time. Once he's a regular in the lineup again, his new and improved self will be truly put to the test.

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