The Mariner have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Micah Owings, as Jesse Burkhart of Fan Rag tweets and MLBTR has confirmed. He’ll receive a big league spring training invite as part of the deal.
Owings, 34, is expected to enter camp trying to pitch his way onto the Seattle roster. He has also attempted to crack the bigs as an outfielder in the past — specifically, in 2013 with the Nationals.
Despite hitting eight home runs and posting a .480 slugging percentage in 213 Triple-A plate appearances that year, Owings carried only a .305 OBP and never got a shot in the majors as a position player. Still, the fact that Owings can swing the stick doesn’t hurt his stock — even if it would be more interesting to see him suiting up for a National League team.
As a pitcher, Owings has appeared in parts of six MLB campaigns, racking up 483 innings of 2.79 ERA pitching with 6.5 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9. Though his last season at the game’s highest level came in 2012, Owings showed enough last year in a run with the indy ball York Revolution to draw a call from GM Jerry Dipoto — who overlapped with Owings when both were with the Diamondbacks.
It took the 6’5 hurler some time to find his groove after missing most of 2014 and all of 2015 with a variety of ailments, but he came on strong later in the year. He ultimately spun 106 2/3 frames for York in 2016, working almost exclusively as a starter and carrying a 4.30 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9.
Felix just got his replacement, actually tho I think Felix will be much better next year.
Wow– I did not expect to see this name on MLBTR again- I’ll be real, it’s not a horrible depth move- like he could be a very solid AAA player coach, but I don’t see him playing a huge role in 2017- a 4.30 in the ATL league with pedestrian BB K numbers- I don’t know-
Invite him to ST if he looks good great if not cut him stick him in AAA or whatever. You can never have too many arms. These are the moves that don’t cost much and maybe you catch lightning in a bottle with one of them. Like I said in another post the guys across the street made a championship team by moves like this. Find guys nobody wanted or gems in the late rounds and if you make a mistake get rid of them fast. Don’t be afraid to admit a mistake and move on.
Yeah the sounders are pretty good, I know that’s not what you mean tho.
He brings a new definition to the term “swingman”
He has a higher WAR as a hitter than a pitcher…don’t see why he hasn’t tried to convert to a full time hitter…
He has tried before in the past. He tried to do that with the Nat’s in 2013. Also, his WAR as a hitting pitcher is reflective of wins above replacement in comparison to other pitchers. So having, for example, 1.2 WAR as a hitting pitcher for batting something like .215/.315/.390 would not be 1.2 WAR if said pitcher had that same slash line and was a left fielder. Basically, WAR is relevant to your position as a player.
In AAA with the Nationals in 2013, when he was trying to convert to being an outfielder, he struck out 92 times in 268 plate appearances and had an .OBP under .300. He showed good power and hit for a decent average, but those numbers in the minors at age 30 probably put a permanent end to that experiment.
His career ERA is not 2.79, that was his ERA for the 2012 season.
Not being pedantic, however;
The Mariner *s*
pedant: a person who annoys other people by correcting small errors and giving too much attention to minor details
*4.86 ERA
483 innings of (2.79) career 4.86 ERA pitching with 6.5 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9.