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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 37th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > April > 19 > Entry
Owings: the man who swings the bat
I’m thinking the same thing all of you are thinking, especially with the Reds hitting .210 as a team.
Micah Owings. Can you play left field? Every day?
After his game-winning pinch-hit two-run double off the screen in left center field in the seventh inning Sunday during a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros, I thought to myself, “Shouldn’t this guy be a position player rather than a pitcher?”
His career batting average is .322 with 12 doubles and five home runs in only 121 majhor-league at-bats. He is a pitcher first, a pinch-hitter second. He hit .354 in the minors in 65 at-bats.
Get this: as a senior at Gainesville (Ga.) high school, he led the team to the state championship, going 12-1 with a 1.03 ERA - AND he hit .448 with 25 homers. Yikes. His 69 home runs in high school was one short of the national high school record.
But…
Remember a guy named George Herman Babe Ruth? He was an outstanding pitcher for the Boston Red Sox - great numbers. He also could hit a little bit, so he was turned into an outfielder.
And if memory serves correctly, he did pretty good with the bat, didn’t he?
Owings is nowhere close to The Babe as a pitcher - a 14-18 career record with an ERA over 5.00.
Anyway, after Owings’ game-winning double Sunday, I approached him said, “Have you ever thought about…?”
That’s as far as I got. He knew where I was going with the question and he smiled and said, “Don’t even go there, Hal. I’m a pitcher. I know what you’re thinking. I’m working on getting ready to pitch Tuesday (in Chicago). I worked hard and I think I’ve made a lot of strides since what happened the other night.”
He pitched in Milwaukee Wednesday and gave up four runs and five hits in five innings of a 9-3 loss to the Brewers. “It’s a long season and all I’m doing is focusing on each outing on the mound and each pitch.”
And the pinch-hitting is a bonus. Like most good pinch-hitters, Owings goes to the plate thinking the pitcher wants to get quickly ahead in the count, so a first-pitch fastball strike is likely. Right?
“That’s right,” said Owings. “When I was in Arizona I liked to pick some of the pitchers’ brains about how they attack pinch-hitters and I talked to Tony Clark (former deluxe pinch-hitter) and he gave me some advice that helped out. I don’t want to share it. But i’m grateful for the advice he gave me. And don’t go ask him about it?”
Clark is now a coach for the Houston Astros.
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Comments
By Turd Ferguson
April 20, 2009 8:26 PM | Link to this
Tony Clark is not a coach for the Astros. He plays for Arizona still.By Ralphie May
April 20, 2009 7:21 PM | Link to this
Hal, How about Owings being used as a designated hitter when they play AL teams latter this year. Please ask this to Dusty.By max
April 20, 2009 4:45 PM | Link to this
What type of history does he have as a hitter. Did he ever play exclusively as hitter? If not I am sceptical. Basically these pitchers have no book on him. The major leagues is no place to figure out whether a guy can hit or not. If he goes down to AAA and converts full time to hitting fine. I just don’t think you do it up here.By Bill from Florida
April 20, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this
I’m sure Dusty will make some changes in the line-up before returning from this road trip. Otherwise he’ll have to leave along with Gonzo and EE.By RC
April 20, 2009 4:12 PM | Link to this
Not that I want to buck the generally down-on-AGonz tenor of the day… but for me, his potential upside both hitting and fielding would cause me to lean towards giving him a couple more weeks to get straightened out. His spring training was somewhat abbreviated. Maybe he’s been away too long, and he’ll never get it back. But .272 and 16 HRs (his numbers from 2007) out of the 7 or 8 slot would be pretty nice, I think. At least, it ought to buy him a little time.By drunkenhopfrog
April 20, 2009 1:50 PM | Link to this
Mark in Sunvalley //This team reminds me of the guy that hits 18 in Vegas and draws a 3// What a perfect way to describe this years Reds!By ME
April 20, 2009 11:20 AM | Link to this
Face it, no matter where you look, no matter what team, there is always weaknesses in some part of their armor,when considering: Defense/Offense/Pitching/Age/SpeedBy Jack
April 20, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this
I really do not know what to make of this team. First very happy that we are above .500, but this is the worst Reds team that I have seen in quite a while. Our third baseman is not major league worthy, our shortstop, who I am willing to give the benefit of doubt for another week or so, is horrible at the moment. Thank goodness there is about only four quality teams in the NL right now, the Dodgers, Marlins, Cubs, and Cards.By Distressed Citizen
April 20, 2009 9:39 AM | Link to this
Sorry Hal, you are doing a great job but, you should have asked Owings if he would consider playing shortstop. The Dominican Reds need to unload Fatzalez at the first opportunity. Not only can he not hit but, he has no range at shortstop. He is diving to make plays that other shortstops are scooping up. Boston didn’t want him, why would the Reds?By Jon
April 20, 2009 8:49 AM | Link to this
Doesn’t Tony Clark play for the Dbacks still? Unless you are talking about another one.By Jim T
April 20, 2009 8:48 AM | Link to this
Mike-cinci, I love this team. I think the reds are building something special. Enjoy watching this years team much more than the the last couple. I hope they can continue to find wways to win.By Mike-Cinci
April 20, 2009 8:35 AM | Link to this
Some fans have declared the Reds awful even though they have a winning record and are only 1 game out of first place. This, despite the lack of production from several hitters and a few pitchers. Let’s see if they can hold their own against the Cubs and braves this week.By JIM T
April 20, 2009 8:23 AM | Link to this
It is apparent that in order to play SS on this team you have to be a fielder first and a hitter second. Would like to have both but its clear that the reason Rosales didn’t make the club and Janish did is because he plays D. Its also clear why Walt J made his number 1 priority in the off season a RH hitter. We are still trribl aginst lefties.By Kyle
April 20, 2009 6:28 AM | Link to this
Amazing that as sickly as this team hits, they are 1 game back in the central. When they start trending toward average, who knows. In the meantime, I’d like to remind everyone that EE saved a big inning with yet another brilliant defensive play. If you don’t think it was brilliant, you’ve never played the infield.By Sal Monella
April 20, 2009 5:57 AM | Link to this
Sorry, my mistake. I stand corrected. FIVE not four Deads regulars are batting BELOW .200: Bruce .176, EE .156, AllGone .069, Hernandez .188 & Phillips .176By MAC
April 20, 2009 3:44 AM | Link to this
Rosales played 3rd @ AAA last season. I don’t know his history, but he doesn’t look like your typical ML SS IMO. Then again, if he can get it done, who cares?By Aaron B.
April 20, 2009 1:45 AM | Link to this
Our best player at AAA just so happens to play shortstop. Our worst hitter and guy most likely to finish the year on the DL just happens to play shortstop. Where is Rosales gonna play? Gee, I don’t know Dusty, let me do some more thorough research and get back to you on that one.By Sal Monella
April 20, 2009 1:33 AM | Link to this
Some Reds “hitters” should be embarrassed. The guys on ESPN mentioned that it took a PITCHER to get it done with the bat since four of the lame Deadlegs regular “hitters” are batting under 200. Just sad.By Marge
April 19, 2009 9:17 PM | Link to this
Do you think its embarrassing for BP, EE and AG when people say the best right hand hitter on the team is a pitcher? Probably not, it doesn’t seem like there are doing anything about it.By Ryan K. Madison, IN.
April 19, 2009 9:13 PM | Link to this
Yes, the bats are cold but the bottom line is we got a win. Our pitching staff is throwing well we just haveto get the bats going…period. Gonzalez couldnt hit water if he fell out of a boat..he’s horrible man for real. Whats up with him? Seriously. We need someone that can at least hit 250 dont we? Owings came through today and he’s a real bright spot for us right nowBy Mark in Sun Valley
April 19, 2009 8:00 PM | Link to this
This team reminds me of the guy that hits 18 in Vegas and draws a 3. Not sure we can rely on excuse me swing homer runs and Country Joe’s bad calls to help us win games all year. The horrible hitting, poor defense and lack of a strategy in the running game will catch up to us sooner or later. And has anyone else noticed what a poor target Hernandez is behind the plate? I have never seen a catcher move so much during the pitcher’s windup. We need Hanigan behind the plate on a regular basis soon.By ohdave
April 19, 2009 7:33 PM | Link to this
Maybe he should bat cleanup when he pitches.By Aaron B.
April 19, 2009 7:20 PM | Link to this
No Hal, we are thinking he should play shortstop not left field. Gonzalez now hitting .069! How many consecutive hits would he need to reach the Mendoza line? He isn’t going to get there anytime soon. My guess is he pulls up lame by mid-May as an excuse to get hiBy Wizard
April 19, 2009 7:12 PM | Link to this
What is wrong with: GOOD PITCHING, that is still improving; GOOD DEFENSE, that with Janish, Hannigan, and Nix{playing RF}in the lineup would be even better!