June 2009. I wrote a Player Spotlight feature on two Cook Hornets – Kaleb Cowart and D.J. Johnson. The duo had terrorized opponents for their entire high school careers and were among the best baseball players in the state. Six years later, one of the pair made it all the way to the Major Leagues.
It was supposed to be easy for Kaleb Cowart. He had committed to play college baseball for Florida State University. But the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles took care of that when they selected Cowart in the first round, 18th overall, of the 2010 draft. A phone call, a contract, and a $2.3 million signing bonus later, and Cowart was a professional baseball player. The path to the big leagues is never easy, but for such a highly regarded prospect as Cowart, making it to the majors was supposed to be an inevitability.
But it almost didn’t happen.
Early in his minor league career, Cowart seemed to be progressing just fine. His defense has never been questioned, and he was hitting well. By 2013, Cowart was in Double A with Arkansas. It was supposed to be one of his final stops on the way to the big league team. Instead, it almost ended his career. Cowart had two poor seasons in Arkansas, hitting .221 and .223. “I had lost my way. I had forgotten the player I was and what I was capable of,” he recalls. “It wasn’t easy when I was struggling. I wasn’t sure where my career was going. I had a good support system behind me, and they stuck with me. The Lord blessed me with another chance.”
Cowart found himself in Single A at the start of the 2015 season. He was going down instead of up. Then his hitting coach, Brent del Chiaro, noticed a few things about Cowart’s swing. Over the years, Cowart had altered his swing little a little. By 2015, it looked very different than it had when he was hitting well early in his career. Del Chiaro and Cowart went to work. He started hitting better and making improvements game by game. The Angels took notice and reversed Cowart’s course; he finally started going back up. He made it to the Triple A Salt Lake Bees before season’s end. Then, as so often the case, a few key moves at the top opened up a door for Cowart to finally step through.
On August 18, 2015, after starting the year in A ball, Cowart stepped onto the field against the Chicago White Sox. “I was hitting well and playing good defense. They gave me a shot,” he says. Cowart played 34 games at the end of the year. He finished with a .174 batting average, one home run, and four RBIs. Defensively, he made two errors and came away with a .962 fielding percentage. “It was fun again. Everything felt great.”
What did he notice first and foremost about baseball at the Major League level? “The game is so fast. It’s the best of the best out there every day. You really have to play within yourself,” he says.
His first 34 games were a tremendous learning experience. And he hopes to build on that experience in the 2016 season. Cowart spent the winter in Adel, working out in Valdosta and hitting every day. “Right now, my future is up for grabs. I’m going to go out this year and try to win a roster spot. I don’t care if it’s at third base or as a utility player. I’ve played all over the infield, so it’s whatever they need. I’m going to try to earn a spot and do the best I can.”
Special Feature/South Georgia/March 2016
Where Are They Now?
Kaleb Cowart
Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles
Robert Preston Jr.
