Which Los Angeles Angels Prospect is Better: Newcomb or Cowart?
By Jason Burke
Late last week, Joanthan Mayo of MLB Pipeline released his list of the top hitting and pitching prospects for each team in 2015. We thought it might be fun to use this list as a basis for holding a little competition with our readers on social media. Over the next 30 days, we’ll go over each team’s top two prospects according to Mayo, then turn to Twitter where you can vote for which prospect had the better season. Since making a bracket out of 30 players is impossible, the two players that receive the least amount of votes overall will be eliminated before the tournament begins.
Today, we’re starting with the Los Angeles Angels. Lefty Sean Newcomb and third baseman Kaleb Cowart received the honors from Pipeline, so let’s first go over their stats from the season.
Newcomb, the Angels’ 1st rounder from 2014 out of Hartford made three stops on the farm this season, climbing from A Ball to Double-A over the course of the season. Overall, Newcomb went 9-3 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP over 136 innings pitched. The bulk of his season was spent in High-A with Inland Empire in the California League where the 22-year-old made 13 starts compared to 7 at the other two stops.
In his 136 innings, Newcomb struck out 168 batters, good for a strikeout per nine innings mark of 11.1 overall–which is great. Conversely, his walk rate was also a bit high, averaging five walks per nine innings. While the southpaw has the stuff to get batters out in the minors, that lack of control will need to be remedied for big league success. The left-hander is rated as the Los Angeles Angels’ top prospect and is projected to arrive in Anaheim some time in 2017.
Kaleb Cowart was so impressive in the minors this season that he was called up to the majors on August 18. Drafted in 2010 at 18th overall, Cowart has spent some time in the minors but is still just 23-years-old. With David Freese set to be a free agent after the season, Cowart could be looking at becoming the team’s everyday third baseman in 2016.
After spending the past two seasons in Double-A, Cowart was assigned to High-A to start this season, which caused some to wonder about his long-term future with the club. In 51 games with Inland Empire Cowart hit .242 which was a step up from the cumulative .222 that he had hit in Double-A the last two years. According to Taylor Blake Ward of Angels on Scout, when an injury at the big league level occurred in June, the Angels had to reach to their minor league system for a third baseman. This created an opportunity for Cowart, who was assigned to Triple-A for the first time in his career. With Salt Lake City, Cowart hit .323 with a .395 on-base percentage over 62 games, belting six homers and driving in 45 in the process. Overall Cowart hit .285 with a .363 OBP, 8 homers and 68 RBI in 113 games.
In his time with the Angels, Cowart has largely struggled, batting just .178 with a .260 OBP.
So, now is decision time for you Angels/baseball fans! Who had the better season: Newcomb or Cowart? While Newcomb has the ridiculous strikeout numbers, his walk rate was a bit high, and Cowart is a feel-good story, but has struggled in his time in the majors (whether that counts or not is up to you). Our Twitter account is below, and we’ll be sending out a specific vote tweet during the day. It’ll be simple: RT for Newcomb, Fav for Cowart. The player with the highest total will be the Angel representative when the tournament gets underway in a few weeks.