2025 Fantasy Baseball: Colton Cowser Profile, Preview, Predictions
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Colton Cowser checks the contact batting average box, thanks to hitting the ball hard. The next step in his development is controlling the strike zone better.
MOO! That's home run 20 for Colton Cowser! 🐮
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 30, 2024
(via @Orioles)pic.twitter.com/NLzCwjMaSP
OF – Colton Cowser, BAL (ADP – 161.2)
Cowser is another Orioles player with a first-round draft pedigree (fifth overall in 2021). He had a sensational final year at Sam Houston State (.374/61/16/52/17 over 203 at-bats) while taking more walks (42) than strikeouts (32).
Over his three seasons in the minors, Cowser hit .298 with 216 runs, 38 home runs, 162 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases over 953 at-bats. He had almost a full year of playing time under his belt at AAA (.280/95/22/73/9 over 428 at-bats). Cowser had a winning walk rate (14.7) at AAA while needing to clean up his strikeouts (27.7%). He posted an elite contact batting average (.438) when putting the ball in play in the minors.
After minimal at-bats over his first eight games (5-for-11 with one run and one RBI) last season with Baltimore, Cowser became a hot waiver wire add two weeks later (.341/9/6/16/3 over 44 at-bats). Unfortunately, his bat lost momentum over his next 42 games (.174 with 16 runs, one home run, 10 RBIs, and one stolen bases over 132 at-bats). Cowser finished the year with helpful value in runs (51), home runs (17), RBIs (42), and steals (5) over his final 312 at-bats while hitting .250. Over this span, he struck out 30.9% of the time (30.7% on the year). His walk rate (9.3) was favorable. Only five of his 24 home runs came against left-handed pitching over 134 at-bats.
His exit velocity (90.5 – 63rd) and hard-hit rate (46.1 – 54th) ranked in the top 30% for batters with 400 or more plate appearances. Cowser has a balanced swing path with a high floor in his HR/FB rate (18.6) and contact batting average (.370).
Fantasy Outlook: Coming into 2025, he has 560 at-bats of experience with the Orioles, leading to a .229 batting average with 92 runs, 23 home runs, 73 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases. He has some lost playing time risk against lefties, and Baltimore will hit him in the bottom half of their lineup. His experience last year should help his success this year, but any contact struggles could lead to Heston Kjerstad getting in his way for at-bats. Other than his batting average risk that can be overcome by his high contact batting average, Cowser has the tools to beat his 2024 output in all categories.
With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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