All Aboard Adam Loewen’s Comeback Train
It’s been a pretty solid week for Adam Loewen. First, the newly-converted outfielder gets called up to the majors for the first time since 2008, back when he was pitching for the Baltimore Orioles. Then, on September 7th, he gets his first start in center field and picks up his first major league hit and run to boot. This Sunday, Loewen picked up his first home run and his first two-hit game, and then yesterday he went and robbed a home run from Carl Crawford at Fenway Park. Not bad for anybody, really. Even better for a guy with Loewen’s story.
Loewen’s pitching career really never got off the ground. He recorded a 4.20 FIP and 2.0 WAR in 2006, but that was accompanied by a 5.37 ERA. He then put up an empty 3.56 ERA (with a 7.7 BB/9) in 30 innings, but then the injury bug began to strike. Loewen missed the last 135 games of the season with an elbow injury, and then missed 59 games of the 2007 season with a forearm injury and later missed the last 73 games of the season with an elbow injury.
Loewen was already about to enter his age 25 season at this point, but the injuries had taken such a toll on his elbow that he decided he couldn’t continue as a pitcher. Usually, this means retirement, but Loewen chose to pursue a career as an outfielder. In 2009, Loewen joined the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system, and although he struggled to re-acclimate himself in High-A, striking out in 29% of plate appearances, he showed good plate discipline and ended the year with a .236/.340/.355 line — hardly encouraging for a 25-year-old in high-A, but these are obviously odd circumstances.
Slowly but surely, things have come together for the former pitcher. He improved to .246/.351/.412 in Double-A and lowered his strikeout rate to 26% in 2010, flashing a bit more power and retaining his excellent walk rate. After tearing up the Arizona Fall League to the tune of a .333/.438/.667, Loewen earned a call-up to Triple-A Las Vegas, where his strikeout rate continued to plummet and his power continued to rise (partially due to the environment of Las Vegas and the PCL). Loewen posted a 23% strikeout rate with the 51s, improving his line to a solid .306/.377/.508, a 118 wRC+.
And now, Loewen has shown us a bit in his first few games in the majors, going 3-for-10 with a home run and two hit-by-pitches, as well as flashing the leather a bit. Loewen’s tendency to strike out will probably keep him from hitting at the level he attained with Las Vegas, but there is reason to believe he can hit like a major leaguer and, if his play last night was any indication, he could be a solid center fielder as well. It’s difficult to see where Loewen fits in the Blue Jays outfield, between Colby Rasmus, Jose Bautista, Eric Thames, Travis Snider, Rajai Davis, and others. But if Loewen continues to get shots this season — and he should, with Rasmus sidelined — he could very well prove himself worth of a MLB job in 2012, whether it’s in Toronto or elsewhere.
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Stat page has no data after 2008.
That’s because you’re looking at the pitching stats!
Got to see Loewen several times in the PCL this year and I totally agree- great story. This was a good year for position switchers overall, with Brian Bogusevic playing in the PCL and then getting called up by the Astros.
Loewen’s teammate Jason Lane made a few very good relief appearances, too. Wonder if he could go the other way, or have some utility as a Kieschnickian super-sub.
Pretty certain that the Jays, as well as other teams, will prefer “Others” to “Rajai Davis” if given the choice.
A good story for everyone but the Orioles. Sigh.
What really hurts is that the O’s had a handshake agreement with him that he would sign a new contract with them in the minors after they removed him from their 40 man roster. Then Cito Gaston stepped in and took him off to Canada.
Part of me really thinks what he did was a bit underhanded for agreeing to something and then going back on it. Especially after having enjoyed that $4 million signing bonus he got after being drafted.
But at the same time, if I had been through the O’s development system once, I probably would want to avoid going through it the second time. I don’t doubt that the instruction he got from Toronto’s system was far more beneficial to him than he would have gotten through Baltimore’s.
On top of that, it is his home country’s team.
It just sucks being an O’s fan, I guess.
Good to see that great of a comeback, hopefully he can continue to stay productive like that. You always root for those guys.
love having Canadian’s on my Jays! Especially Lawrie.
I will pass on Bay though.
I know that O’s fans are bitter about Loewen jumping to the Jays, but he was unprotected at the beginning of the year, and any team (including the O’s) could have picked him up in the Rule 5 draft.
He had a great at bat tonight too to drive in the two winning runs.. ..looks better at the plate than Rasmus.
He looks good at the plate, if a bit deliberate in his mechanics. (Or: his mechanics look good, but he’s not as fluid or “natural” as some sweet-swinging lefties.) I imagine he would be a rock-solid hitter by now had he stayed a positional player all along. But it has been an impressive comeback trail for Loewen, and maybe he can catch on for a while a la Ankiel.
Turncoat
If you wanted him, you could have claimed him in the Rule 5 draft.
I can’t imagine the Jays arbitrarily choosing Thames over Loewen. I hope to see a spring-time battle, with the two changing places between Toronto and Las Vegas until one seizes the job for good and all. If the Jays can find a suitor for Davis, then Thames could be the corners backup, with Loewen the CF backup.
Have you forgotten about me?
I think Snider gets traded. He’s shown enough promise to be a nice second piece in a significant trade.
I remember reading some years ago an article (probably by Bill James) that talked about players being able to succeed at BOTH hitting and pitching (or to switch from one to the other) and how that may be a sign of a decreasing talent level (in the league). I think some supporting evidence was that the standard deviation rate (although I have no idea of which stats… across the board?) was increasing, which also (at least was argued to) points to a decreasing talent level. Is this something that is generally thought to be true? false? I’m interested to see what people think. [Mind you, I think Loewen’s story is pretty damn awesome].
Loewen’s problem as a pitcher was his “endurance” (or lack thereof). He’d throw hard for three or four innings, get tired, and then get shelled in the last inning.
As such, he should not have been cast as a starter, but as a long reliever.
Good for him that he can make it back as an outfielder.
Agreed that he never had good enough stuff for starting. No other organization but the Orioles would have put him in the rotation. A creative team could really use a position player like Loewen to mop up innings in blowouts, though there seems to be an unwritten rule that a team with a giant lead will not use position players to pitch at all.
It could mean the difference between staying in the majors or not for a player like Loewen. I would be going to the manager if I was him and saying I am up to pitch on occasion in long relief.
Is there room for D-Train on this comeback train? Wonder how well he could catch fly balls?