Arizona Diamondbacks’ Micah Owings impresses with the bat – MLB News
Arizona Diamondbacks’ right handed pitcher Micah Owings recently impresses general manager Kevin Towers as he took batting practice. Owings is a talented athlete capable of performing with both bat and ball.
Owings came up from the Minor League to play as a reliever for Arizona during the bullpen sessions. However after watching his batting practice, the team is now considering using as a pinch-hitter.
After watching Owings in batting practice, Towers said, "He had some people scattering there beyond the left-field fence. He's a pretty impressive athlete. The ball has a different sound when it comes off his bat."
It will be interesting to see if the Diamondbacks try Owings out for a role as pinch-hitter. Owings has won the National League Silver Slugger Award for pitching and has an impressive hitting average of .333 with four home-runs in 60 at-bats. He had a win-loss
record of 8-8 with a 4.30 ERA in 29 games.
If Owings is used as a pinch hitter, it should make for an interesting combination but will also add some depth to their batting line-up. Owings has been a hard working performer for Arizona. The team will be looking to have a quality start in the 2011 MLB
regular season. The team understands that in order to have a successful start, the batting and pitching line-up must be at full strength to take on other top tier teams in the league.
As Spring Training starts, Arizona is hoping that they can put in some decent performances and build some confidence in the team. By winning as many games as possible, the team will try to get some momentum that they will try carry into the regular season.
Arizona manager Kirk Gibson is looking to Owings to perform as a relief pitcher and if the player has the capability to provide with the bat then that would be considered as an added bonus for the team. However, the manager stated that Owings will be given
a chance to prove his worth with the bat during Spring Training.
As far as relief pitching, Owings said, “I think it's the toughest role in baseball, especially from a pitcher's standpoint. It's comforting to know talking to [Gibson] and [Towers] that they're not going to let a guy sit down there eight, 10 days and not
get an inning in just to stay sharp."
The Diamondbacks are hoping for a good Spring Training session followed up by a strong regular season start. It will be interesting to see what type of rotation and line-up the team comes up with to compete during the session. Only time will tell if Arizona
can bring the team up to level as the other top teams in MLB.
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