Big-league teams know that rookies are going to make mistakes. It’s part of the process for every player. But I don’t think the Baltimore Orioles quite anticipated the kind of mistake star rookie Colton Cowser would make on Saturday night.
It nearly had him going to take a dive into the fountains at Kauffman Stadium.
Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel went into the game needing just one more save to tie Billy Wagner for seventh on the all-time save list. And sure, seven isn’t a huge milestone. But Kimbrel was the replacement at closer for Wagner in Atlanta. So, that milestone was personally meaningful to Kimbrel.
And when Kimbrel recorded that final out on a fly ball to Cowser, the Orioles left fielder clearly wasn’t informed of that milestone. He dramatically chucked the ball over his head and into the fountains.
#Orioles’ Colton Cowser: “Right when I threw it, I said, ‘Craig has a lot of saves, that one might have been important.’ I literally told Ced right whenever, ‘I might have messed up.’ And it turns out I did.”
Cowser later learned that balls sink in the fountain after 2 minutes. pic.twitter.com/2UYjEOffzV
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) April 21, 2024
Cowser quickly realized he messed up, but he was a great sport about it. He detailed that realization to MLB.com after the game:
“I just yeeted it behind me … Right when I threw it, I said, ‘Craig has a lot of saves, that one might have been important. I literally told [center fielder Cedric Mullins] right whenever, ‘I might have messed up.’ And it turns out I did. We got the ball back, though.”
According to MLB.com, the stadium staff went to retrieve the baseball out of the fountains. And it was easy to pick out the correct baseball because only two baseballs were in the water — one of which was way too old to be the Kimbrel ball.
As for Kimbrel, he wasn’t upset that the ball ended up in a fountain and told Cowser not to worry about it.