Los Angeles Angels: What Should We Expect from Kaleb Cowart?

With an injury to starting third baseman, Yunel Escobar, the Los Angeles Angels are giving another opportunity to former top prospect Kaleb Cowart. What should Angels fans expect this time around?

Yunel Escobar was in the midst of a very solid season, hitting over .300 and slotting in as a middle of the order bat in the Los Angeles Angels lineup. With not much for Angels fans to get excited about, the third baseman was one of the main bright spots on the ballclub. However, thanks to a concussion, Escobar hit the disabled list on Sunday. This is slightly different from any other injury as concussion injuries allow teams to get players back after seven days instead of the usual 15. While this situation is disappointing for the 33 year-old, it does open up an opportunity to a once hyped Angels prospect.

Back before the 2013 season got underway, third baseman Kaleb Cowart was not only one of the best players in the Angels farm system, but was a consensus top 75 prospect, at least according to a few national publications. MLB Pipeline had listed the former first round pick as the 67th best prospect in the majors, and Baseball America thought a bit higher of the infielder, slotting him as the 60th best minor leaguer in baseball.

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While it’s easy to say that those publications were flat out wrong because Cowart hasn’t received consistent playing time in the MLB, his lofty draft selection and the numbers he put up in the minors certainly justified why he was thought of so highly.

During his season in 2012, which was only his second full season as a professional, he hit for a .276 average with 16 home runs in single-A ball as a 20 year old. However, Cowart did not make the jump to the major leagues until 2015. In addition to not finding himself on another top prospect list for past three years. This was a combination of poor numbers and not being able to adjust to higher levels of the minor league system. Cowart’s stock hit its lowest point In 2014, when he hit under .225 in in Double-A. Though, things have started to change since then for the 2010 18th overall selection.

Last year, the third baseman reached Triple-A for the first time and put up some great numbers in the 62 games he played for the highest of minor league affiliates. Cowart hit for a .323 batting average and got on-base at a .395 clip. Add in his six homers and the former top prospect firmly put himself back on the map.

Now at 24 years old, Cowart is finally getting another major league opportunity after tasting the bigs last season. With Yunel Escobar recovering from his concussion, the Angels have called up their now versatile minor leaguer. Once primarily a third baseman, Cowart has seen time at first base, shortstop and left field. This versatility should only help him, but what will make or break him is how he swings the bat.

Leading up to his promotion, he posted a .942 OPS in his last 30 games with the Salt Lake Bees, in addition to hitting nine balls out, which is the most he’s had since his breakout 2012 campaign. His positional versatility and hit bat should allow him to see time on a struggling Angels team even when Escobar returns from his concussion.

Cowart is still young, as he turned 24 in June, and hasn’t had a real opportunity to succeed at the major league level. He has also produced offensively in the past two years. Nobody should expect that he will become a starting caliber player right away, but there is enough going for him to intrigue Angels management.

Los Angeles will probably pick up Escobar’s $7 million team option for 2017, but he will be 34 years old next season, and Cowart could be a good alternative when Escobar departs from the roster. There is no reason why Mike Sciascia shouldn’t find regular playing time for the young utility man as the likes of Cliff Pennington and Nick Buss are currently entrenched in starting roles. The Angels need to see what they have from some of their younger guys even though their farm system is in the bottom three in the major leagues.

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He probably won’t be an above average player as he doesn’t have any tools that scream upside, but he has put up good numbers over the past two years after a disappointing 2014 season. There is enough to get excited about to think that one day Cowart could use his defensive versatility and solid offensive game to become a starter out some point.

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