After the Orioles traded away longtime center fielder Cedric Mullins in July 2025, the future of that position felt like it hinged on Colton Cowser.

A year later, we still don’t know whether or not he can handle it. Defensively, he more than held his own, but an offensive season that never really got firing leaves him as a pivot point of the Orioles’ offseason. If they truly trust Cowser to play every day in center field, they can allocate resources this winter to the corner spots. But if not, perhaps no spot on the field requires more attention.

I think he’s worth the full-time look. But the decision comes down to president of baseball operations Mike Elias and manager Craig Albernaz. For all I know, they might be on opposite sides of that conversation, too. And that’s what makes Cowser’s future one of the more fascinating parts of this offseason.

When we spoke near the end of the season, Cowser perhaps tellingly focused on the defensive side of the ball. His assessment was clear.

Advertise with us

“There were question marks about, defensively, if I could handle certain situations, certain positions, and I’ve always felt like I could,” he said. “I think being able to emerge and hopefully continue to play center field is something I feel like I showcased pretty well.”

By many evaluations, that was true. He was worth 10 defensive runs saved (fourth-best among players with at least 600 innings in center, according to FanGraphs) and seven outs above average in center field this year, which ranked 11th in MLB out of 41 players with at least 100 opportunities in center, according to baseballsavant.com.

He was similarly strong in the corners, where he’s proven to be an asset defensively, but his opportunities were limited because of his struggles against left-handed pitching.

Cowser had a .445 OPS and a 29 wRC+ against lefties — 71% below league-average — with strikeouts in 43.1% of his plate appearances against same-side pitching. While Leody Taveras’ output got progressively worse against lefties as the season went on, he was still often preferred in center to Cowser, forcing Cowser to adapt to a platoon role that saw him starting some days and coming off the bench others.

There were some spells where he hit righties well. He had a 1.004 OPS off righties in May as part of a resurgence that helped him regain his spot in the starting lineup. But then he swooned again in June. Even after recovering down the stretch, Cowser ended up with with a .735 OPS and 111 wRC+ against righties, giving him a .687 OPS and 98 wRC+ overall.

Advertise with us

He said at the end of the season that he didn’t hit as well as he liked and planned to reflect on why, though he noted that most of it was “between the ears and approach and things like that.” As he was overwhelmed by changeups early in the season, he said he’d spend his whole at-bat waiting for them and then swing anyway, and it was only after he consciously stopped doing that that he was able to dig out of that hole. But the lows, he acknowledged, were too low, no matter the reason.

“I’ll have these really hot streaks and play really well, and whenever I’m not playing well, it’s like the low streaks just aren’t great at all,” Cowser said. “It’s like a .400 OPS and if I could just push that up to a .600 OPS, then the whole season’s statistics would be different. I don’t know what it is, it’s just sometimes I’m seeing the ball really well, and something will happen and the next day I show up and it’s like, ‘What the heck? The ball looks like it’s completely different right now.’”

Ironing those out would go a long way toward earning Albernaz’s confidence, and that would require something to help him solve lefties. Even if he was back around his 2024 (.661 OPS with an 89 wRC+ off lefties) or 2025 (.638 OPS with a 78 wRC+) levels, you can make a case for him being in there every day. Before this year’s struggles against lefties, Cowser had similar numbers off of them as Mullins did in an Orioles uniform.

But considering we’re talking about such an important position, the Orioles will need to have a high level of confidence in 2026 being an aberration for Cowser to not evaluate the center field market in free agency. It’s not a robust group, but new general manager Jared Banner was in Boston when they drafted Mauricio Dubón and Chicago this summer when they traded for Tyrone Taylor, both of whom would add some interesting versatility alongside Cowser, but not in place of him. Trades to add to the outfield are an option as well.

It all depends on how they balance out the good and bad of Cowser’s season. He’s had about a month to think about it himself, and knew what he’d be weighing before the season ended.

“I haven’t hit as well as I’d like to,” he said, “so I think for me, it’s understanding that, and I think in my head, there’s a little bit of disappointment in that, but also, understanding that I can impact the game on both sides of the ball.”