SARASOTA – Baseball’s inner circle tightened around Colton Cowser and Jason Bourgeois.

Cowser is the Orioles outfielder who’s prepping to play every day in center. Bourgeois is the new first base coach who also works with the outfielders. They’re both from Houston and both have a history with hitting instructor Sid Holland at Proway Baseball Academy.

The spring training report dates weren’t a starting point for the pair to begin plotting and deepening a bond that already had developed. They met in Houston for about an hour around the Christmas holiday, with Bourgeois making the trip from his home in Los Angeles. Cowser said center field has been his mindset and this seemed like the right time to pick Bourgeois’ brain.

“Just talking about where we can get better, what we can improve on,” Cowser said. “There’s some areas that we want to work on.”

“I wanted to make sure I caught up with him in person – how are you doing, how are you feeling, where’s your mind?” Bourgeois said yesterday. “He’s a kid actually that I have known for a while. We hit in the same cage coming up.

“(Holland) always set the bar high for us and motivated us and it’s always been our little safe haven. I’ve been seeing him grow as a player from the outside looking in, but it’s pretty cool to kind of dive in on him as a player, and not only on the personal side.”

Cowser made 45 starts in center last season, the Orioles moving him from left after trading Cedric Mullins to the Mets at the deadline. He made 36 in 2024, a big bump from the eight he logged the previous year.

“Overall in center field I feel like I play it pretty well, but I think just initial first step is the big thing for me,” he said. “I feel like my closing speed’s pretty good. And it’s just been reemphasized, as well, from the front office, and more the analytical data and stuff. So I think that just initial first step, and we’ve been preaching reaction is king here. So just doing that stuff has been really good.”

Bourgeois, 44, was a second-round draft pick of the Rangers in 2000 who played eight years in the majors with the White Sox, Brewers, Astros, Royals, Rays and Reds. He went 31-for-37 in stolen bases with Houston in 2011, and most of his starts as a professional came in center field.

The Orioles hired Bourgeois in November while building a staff for new manager Craig Albernaz. He spent the past two seasons as White Sox first base and outfield coach, and his ties to Albernaz go back to 2013, when they were teammates with Triple-A Durham.

Bourgeois will be kept busy with the many outfielders in camp, including Heston Kjerstad, who’s always trying to get better in the corners but hasn’t stayed healthy. Cowser isn’t necessarily a project, but it’s extremely important that the Orioles get him as comfortable in the middle as he appeared in left.

“Spatial awareness and situational defense” are the first two points of emphasis that Bourgeois mentioned in relation to Cowser.

“When I talk about spatial awareness, going back on balls, taking your eye off, knowing where the guy is next to you, knowing the attributes of the guy that’s next to you. Kind of expectations. How they communicate,” Bourgeois said.

“We have a perfect combination, I feel like, of athleticism and experience.”

Cowser possesses the tools, with makes it much easier for Bourgeois to work with him.

“He has everything,” Bourgeois said. “Now it’s all about execution, trusting his skills, trusting his ability, trusting the advance report that we have for him when it comes to the opponent. Yeah, he has everything it takes to be a center fielder. Now, he has to go out and just execute.

“It’s gonna be fun to watch.”

The glove is only half the battle for Cowser. He posted a .196 average with a .655 OPS in 92 games, his season twice put on ice due to a fractured left thumb and concussion, and he also played through rib fractures.

The Orioles hired Dustin Lind as hitting coach and Brady North as assistant while leaving the pitching side untouched.

“Yeah, overall just getting to know them more,” Cowser said. “Had a couple calls in the offseason, just some ideas to work on in the offseason when it comes to drills and stuff like that. Getting to talk to them just during lives and stuff, where my position’s at, where my load’s at. Overall, just kind staying in the back hip a little bit longer just to have a little bit more length out front and have more adjustability was the main focus, and I think it’s gonna be really good.”

Cowser tried to simulate as much as he could in the offseason with a spin ball machine, hitting foams and mixed batting practice.

“A lot of the time just change of speed and just working through the middle of the field was the main focus,” he said, “and backing the fastball timing up and just turning the barrel on off-speed pitches.”

Cutting down on the strikeouts – 300 in the past two seasons – is more a personal goal for Cowser than a group discussion.

“I think last year, kind of got caught up with some injuries and trying to do too much,” he said. “It felt like every at-bat I was trying to get four hits in one at-bat. Just kind of getting out away from myself and trying to change my stats every at-bat rather than just continue to stack good at-bats. That kind of got a little skewed toward the end of last year. I was trying to make up for a lot of things that I missed.” 

Bourgeois was the second confirmed coaching hire by the Orioles after Lind.

“Man, how about that?” he said.

“I know some people are probably looking like, ‘Where did he come from?’ That experience is priceless. I’m grateful for that opportunity. The reps, the mistakes I made, led me to here – ironically, you know? The staff is awesome, the energy in this place. The welcome has been phenomenal. I feel like I’m caught up.

“When you go to an organization, you want to feel like you know everybody instantly, and they’ve done a great job of that from the offseason until now.”

Note: President of baseball operations Mike Elias was a call-in guest last night on 105.7 The Fan’s “The Fresh Take” and didn’t provide any updates on injured infielder Jordan Westburg beyond again confirming the oblique strain.

Elias said he was aware of the reports.

“When it comes to any other injuries or anything else going on, if you’re management with the club, we can’t get out there and start talking about things until we really have our arms around a diagnosis, a prognosis, a plan,” Elias said. “We’re just not there yet and we’ll have something to share very, very soon.”

Elias was asked whether the timeline for Westburg’s return has changed.

“Just not at a point to be able to address anything publicly in a responsible manner outside of what we’ve already shared as a club,” he responded. “But we do that as soon as we’re able to, and I expect that we’ll be able to share some news soon.”