By some measures, Kaleb Cowart has done well in his second season at Class AA.
The Arkansas Travelers' third baseman is among the team leaders in runs, RBI and stolen bases, but his batting average has been a cause for concern for Cowart and Travs coaches, which has led to a recent experiment.
Cowart entered Tuesday's game against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals hitting .229 through 100 games, and he is hitting .224 in his two seasons at Class AA. The 848 at-bats since arriving in Arkansas last year is a large enough sample size to realize something had to change, Arkansas Manager Phillip Wellman said.
In an attempt to redirect a career that was trending the wrong direction, Cowart has abandoned hitting right-handed and has concentrated solely on hitting left-handed for the past 11 games.
"Something had to change," Cowart said Tuesday. "It wasn't going well. I had some success, but not the success I wanted for the entire year. It was just really inconsistent."
Cowart entered the Los Angeles Angels organization in 2010 as a first-round draft pick, highly touted as a switch -hitting third baseman with speed and solid defense. He was ranked in 2013 as the organization's No. 1 prospect by Baseball America and started this season ranked third.
Cowart hasn't found his rhythm as a switch hitter at Class AA, and after consultation with Wellman, Angels field coordinator Mike Micucci and assistant general manager Scott Servais, he began hitting strictly left-handed July 18 when the Travs opened a series at Tulsa.
The decision relieves Cowart of a mental burden, and although he is a natural right-hander who started switch-hitting when he was 12, Wellman said Cowart is a more valuable prospect as a left-handed-hitting third baseman than as a right-handed-hitting third baseman.
"If you keep hitting .220, the end's going to come," Wellman said. "At some point in time guys are going to pass you up. It's just the business and the nature of the game. You hit .220 two or three years in a row, the next thing you know you're a utility player."
Since making the switch, Cowart is batting .321 with 8 RBI over 11 games. He went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and hit a three-run triple in the eighth inning Monday night.
"Maybe it's eased his mind a little," Wellman said. "Now it's just a matter of trying to maintain it."
Cowart's biggest struggles came last season while hitting .202 and striking out 97 times in 376 at-bats from the left side. He said working with Wellman and hitting coach Tom Tornincasa has made him feel almost more comfortable hitting from that side, and when it came time to eliminate a worry he went with hitting left-handed so he'd see more right-handed pitchers.
Cowart, voted as the high school player of the year in 2010 by Baseball America, said he doesn't view the adjustment as him failing as a switch-hitter.
"I don't think it matters if you get to the big leagues as a switch hitter or hitting from one side," Cowart said. "As long as you're a good, productive hitter and help the team, that's all that matters."
Wellman is taking the positive approach, too. He pointed out that Cowart is only 22 and more than 1,600 at-bats into his professional career. If he had chose to attend college coming out of high school, he'd be in his rookie season.
Now he's reinventing himself with a month left in the season to gain momentum for next season.
"I actually dream that he finishes well, we go to the playoffs, he continues to do that, he kind of carries us into the playoffs," Wellman said. "That might be the springboard the kid needs."
Sports on 07/30/2014