Reliving the top 5 moments from Cowser's stellar rookie season

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- Colton Cowser did not win the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday night. However, that does not change the fact that the 24-year-old Orioles outfielder had a strong rookie campaign this season, one worthy of recognition.

The runner-up to Yankees right-hander Luis Gil in AL Rookie of the Year voting, Cowser wasn’t even a lock to make Baltimore’s Opening Day roster when he reported to Spring Training in mid-February. Not only did he win a job, but he then played his way into the everyday lineup and finished the season fourth on the O’s with 3.1 wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference.

It was an impressive breakthrough after Cowser struggled during his 26-game MLB debut in 2023.

“I think the big thing for me was being told, ‘It’s never a bad thing to struggle in the big leagues your first time around,’ and understanding that,” Cowser said on MLB Network on Monday. “Going into last offseason, the hitting coaches, hitting staff, gave me a couple of things to work on just to make myself a little bit more consistent with lower body and mindset and approach, and I think those things catapulted me into this year.”

With Cowser’s strong rookie season in the books, let’s count down his five most memorable moments from 2024.

5. Spoiling a potential duel with a mammoth blast
The series finale between the Phillies and Orioles on June 16 at Camden Yards was expected to be a pitching duel, with aces Zack Wheeler and Corbin Burnes each tabbed to start. However, the O’s pounced on Wheeler early, with Cowser playing a key role.

The longest of Cowser’s 24 home runs this season came in the second inning of this contest, when he blasted a Statcast-projected 443-foot two-run shot to center. That made it a 3-0 lead for Baltimore, which went on to win, 8-3.

4. Off the bench to win it
The Orioles brought in Cowser as a defensive replacement in right field for the top of the eighth inning during a June 12 clash vs. the Braves at Camden Yards. In the bottom of the frame, the rookie outfielder broke a tie with his bat.

Cowser belted a go-ahead two-run homer off right-hander Joe Jiménez, and Baltimore held on to win, 4-2.

3. A homer into the Kauffman fountains
A day after he unknowingly “yeeted” a Craig Kimbrel milestone save ball into a fountain at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Cowser came back and got a wet form of redemption.

Cowser’s third-inning solo homer in an April 21 win vs. the Royals appropriately landed in another one of Kauffman’s trademark fountains.

“We preferred him hitting one into the fountain instead of throwing one into the fountain,” manager Brandon Hyde said then.

2. A game-ending robbery in Chicago
Named an AL Gold Glove finalist for his tremendous glovework, Cowser’s best defensive gem may have been the game-ending catch he made to cap the Orioles’ 6-4 win over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on May 24.

Cowser made a leaping grab to pull back what would have been a Tommy Pham home run, and he then immediately let out his emotions to celebrate the victory.

1. His first MLB home run ... and his second!
Baltimore’s April 9-11 series at Fenway Park in Boston was supposed to be remembered for the arrival of Jackson Holliday, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect at the time who debuted in the middle contest of the three-game set. But Cowser stole the show instead.

In the series finale, Cowser slugged his first MLB home run, leading off the fifth with an opposite-field blast over the Green Monster. He later went deep again, capping a six-run 10th with a three-run homer as the O’s won, 9-4.

“As soon as Jackson got called up, I was messing around and I was like, ‘If Jackson hits a home run before me, I’m going to be pretty upset,’” Cowser joked then.