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- 2018 RATING: 3.7
- 2017 RATING: 6.01
- DIFFERENCE: -2.31
- 2018 SALARY: $3.4million
- 2018 PERFORMANCE: 309 PA, 34 R, 58 H, 15 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 22RBI, 11SB, .206/.272/.302= .574 OPS
- 2019 STATUS: 3rd Yr Arbitration Eligible
Oh Owings, how so many of us hoped your 2014 season would herald a new age of middle infield glory. Alas, it was not to be and after 4years as a starter one has to wonder just where do we go from here?
2018 started out with Owings seemingly set to duke it out with Ahmed and Marte for some combination of short and second starter time. Yet Marte’s 2017 performance, and subsequent extension in 2018, along with Souza’s Spring Training injury put to bed any thoughts of Owings “just” being a shortstop or second baseman. Nope, once again he was going to be our utility guy. Not a bad thing at all, and he spelled outfielder with some regularity in both 2016 and 2017. So why not do so again in 2018?
The problem with 2018 though was less where he could, or would play most often, but rather would he be productive AT ALL at the plate. The answer was no. No he would not be productive at bat. In fact his Home/Away BA splits of .225/.189 respectively might be one of the saddest things about this beercapless article I’m writing at this very moment. Or maybe the saddest thing was that for every 1 time he walked he’d strike out another 3times? Or perhaps any other number of offensive stats he amassed in 2018?
Honestly there’s not much else to write here about Owings. He was often seen as the better bat between him and Ahmed, and then he was seen as the perfectly acceptable utility man when needed. Yet in 2018 he fell right off a production cliff and as of August of 2018, and the many relief arm moves the Dbacks made to prep for our march (eventual Turkish Death March) to the playoffs saw him sent packing to Reno. Like many I’ve been trying to forget much of this season after our September downfall, so forgive when I write truthfully that the most memorable moment I have of Owing is when he collided in to AJ in April. That’s it.
It was not long ago when many a Snakepitter and Brute saw in Owings the future at shortstop, especially after trading away Didi. Honestly I think (and I’m sure our commenters and writer will correct me) that one of the reasons we felt we could move Didi was because we had Owings waiting in the wings to start and produce right away. Lowering his strikeout to walk ratio seemed to be his major issue, but even some of the more pessimistic of us felt he could eventually figure out. Also his fielding left something to be desired, but he wasn’t a glacier moving in the infield or outfield so most of us could live with that. The future truly seemed bright.
Now though, in his 3rd year of arbitration, I personally wonder why we’d want him back at all.