Aug. 29--REPORTING FROM CLEVELAND -- Kaleb Cowart has already shown in 10 games that he is ready for the big leagues defensively. The Angels third baseman has displayed good lateral range and a strong and accurate arm, and he's charged several slow rollers and made off-balance throws to first base.
"You absolutely see the potential," Manager Mike Scioscia said of Cowart, who was called up from triple A on Aug. 18. "From the defensive perspective, you couldn't ask much more from a major league third baseman. He's made every play. He's made a lot of tough plays look easy. He has great tools."
But the "real litmus test," Scioscia said, is how young players make adjustments at the plate, "and you're not going to know what they are until you face the beast, which is major league pitching."
So far, the beast has had the upper hand. Cowart, 23, entered Saturday with four hits, including one home run, 14 strikeouts and three walks in 29 at-bats for a .138 average. But there were encouraging signs Friday night, when he hit a two-out, run-scoring single to center in the fifth inning of a 3-1 los to the Cleveland Indians.
"These are the best pitchers in the world, and you have to be really disciplined in the strike zone and not chase the pitches they want you to swing at," Cowart said. "I think that's been the biggest adjustment so far, trying to go up there and swing at the right pitches."
Cowart looked overmatched in his first four games, going hitless in 13 at-bats with six strikeouts, but he gained confidence with his first big league hit, a homer against Toronto on Aug. 22.
"Early on, I was nervous and chasing and pressing, trying to get a hit," Cowart said. "Once I got it, things settled back down."
The challenge continues Saturday night, when Cowart and the Angels face Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, the 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner.
"That's part of it," Cowart said. "They don't call it the big leagues for nothing."
The switch-hitting Cowart was a first-round pick in 2010 whose career stalled when he hit a combined .222 at double-A Arkansas in 2013 and 2014.
He was demoted to Class-A Inland Empire to start 2015, but he regained his batting stroke after reverting to an old stance, moving his hands farther from his body, standing more upright and refining his toe tap.
If Cowart's offense can catch up with his defense, he will have a good chance of beating out prospect Kyle Kubitza for the starting third base job next season, assuming the Angels let David Freese go as a free agent.
"He has the potential to be a really good player," Scioscia said.
