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The Baltimore Orioles roster could hold the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, and it’s not Jackson Holliday. Colton Cowser, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, is the on-odds favorite for the award.
According to VegasInsider, Cowser is the leading favorite for the American League honors, on all of BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel.
It’s a sentiment that’s shared amongst the media, too. MLB.com’s Mike Petriello posted a Rookie of the Year power rankings chart on August 27 that featured the Baltimore rookie in first place.
Through 124 games this season, Cowser is slashing .247/.323/.448 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs. He’s tied with Jackson Merrill for most home runs by a rookie, and is fourth in RBIs.
Cowser would make for an eighth Rookie of the Year recipient in franchise history, and a second consecutive one after Gunnar Henderson took home the honors last season.
Colton Cowser Leads MLB.com Poll
In an August 27 poll conducted by MLB.com, Cowser is the clear-cut Rookie of the Year favorite for site experts. He received 17 of 30 first-place votes.
Mason Miller, closing pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, finished with 9 first-place votes, second-most among the group.
“Cowser could be the Orioles’ eighth Rookie of the Year with a strong finish to this season,” Brian Murphy and Jason Foster wrote. “He would follow in the footsteps of teammate and fellow LEGO fan Gunnar Henderson, who took home the award last season. The 2004-05 A’s are the most recent AL club to have back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners (Bobby Crosby, Huston Street).”
Foster and Murphy also credited Cowser’s defensive improvements this season, which are harder to spot on the stat sheet.
“He has done stellar work on defense as well, amassing 10 outs above average,” they wrote. “That is the most among AL rookies and ranks tied for seventh among all outfielders.”
Cowser has cemented his place as a member of the Baltimore outfield. And he’s closing out the season on a hot streak at the plate, too.
Since earning his first start as the Orioles leadoff batter on July 28, Cowser is batting .274/.325/.460 with 5 home runs and 14 RBIs. The race, it seems, is his to lose.
Samuel Basallo Following In Jackson Holliday’s Footsteps
Baltimore’s farm system is having a great year, and not just with Cowser in contention for Rookie of the Year. Holliday looks like a candidate for the postseason roster, and Samuel Basallo is headed to Triple-A.
The Orioles’ number three ranked prospect — and the 11th ranked in all of MLB — was promoted to the Norfolk Tides on August 27.
Basallo will spend the last month of the 2024 season in Triple-A, and enter the 2025 season eyeing his MLB debut. It’s the same trajectory Holliday took, playing 14 games with the Tides to close out 2023.
In 106 games with the Bowie Baysox this season, Basallo slashed .289/.355/.465 with 16 home runs and 55 RBIs. When he takes the field for the Tides, he’ll be the youngest player in Triple-A at 20 years and 13 days old.
Holliday, too, was the youngest player in Triple-A when he joined — and left — the Tides.
But it’s when Basallo collects 25 plate appearances that he’ll etch his name into the history books. According to Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun, he’ll be just the sixth-top prospect to do so since 2006.
Basallo will join Bryce Harper, Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Holliday as players to tally 25 or more plate appearances in their age-19 season.
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