What a strange new era this is for the Orioles. In almost any previous season, Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad — two top-five O’s prospects who have put up eye-popping numbers at the Triple-A level — would both be slam dunks for inclusion on the Birds’ Opening Day roster.
And yet, this current club is so chock-full of talent that there might be room for only one of them...or possibly neither. I guess that’s what they call a good problem to have.
Cowser and Kjerstad, two Texas natives, were first-round picks by the Orioles in consecutive years — Kjerstad as the second overall selection in 2020, Cowser at #5 overall in 2021 — but they’ve taken wildly divergent paths to get where they are today.