The Baltimore Orioles are coming off a disappointing 2025 season, where the team massively underperformed and missed the playoffs after having one of the best records in baseball just one year prior.
Now, the Orioles are looking to retool for a 2026 season that could come with some big changes. Roch Kubatko of masnsports.com reports that the Orioles are looking for an impact hitter this offseason, but that’s not the only change coming for Baltimore.
Kubatko also reports that the Orioles are likely to resolve their Opening Day center fielder spot with an in-house candidate. That player is Colton Cowser, who took over for Cedric Mullins in center after the trade deadline.
Orioles’ Colton Cowser is the favorite to be the Opening Day center fielder
“The most logical in-house candidate is Colton Cowser, who moved from left to center after the Mullins trade and impressed with his range.” Kubatko writes, “He can handle the position, but the Orioles seem to value his work in left a little more.”
There are two noteworthy things that Kubatko mentions in this report. The first is obviously that if the Orioles go with an in-house candidate to be their center fielder, it’d likely be Coswer.
The 25-year-old outfielder had a solid year in 2025, though he took a step back from his breakout 2024 season. He hit just .196 with a .655 OPS, a good bit lower than his .242 average and .768 OPS from one year ago.
Cowser can be the Orioles’ Opening Day center fielder if needed, but as the second main point from Kubatko’s report, the Orioles front office might prefer him back in left field full-time.
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If Baltimore decides to keep Coswer in left field as opposed to moving him to center field full-time, that could open the door to a few interesting free agents being options for Baltimore.
While Kyle Tucker might be out of the range for Baltimore, Trent Grisham or Cody Bellinger could be great pickups to take over center field duties, allowing Coswer to move back to left.
Regardless of what the Orioles decide to do, they’re likely going to add an outfielder this winter. The only question is whether it’s a major splash or a depth piece, or if they’d take over for Cowser in center field instead of occupying a corner spot.
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