Owings ready to roll as RailRiders head out on road
Jun. 21—MOOSIC — Chris Owings' tenure with the Baltimore Orioles lasted 26 games this season.
That following an injury-plagued, 21-game season with Colorado in 2021, and a 17-game stint with the Rockies in the shortened 2020 campaign.
So, after agreeing to a minor-league contract with the New York Yankees on Saturday, the 30-year-old utilityman is just looking for a chance to play.
"Just get in a rhythm," Owings said. "I think that's the biggest thing is I haven't been able to get in a rhythm, so I think that's what I'm looking forward to the most."
Owings fielded groundballs, took batting practice prior to last weekend's slate against Rochester, but the RailRiders kept him out of game action. He should be ready to go Tuesday, when Scranton/Wilkes-Barre opens a series in Toledo against the Mud Hens.
It's the first time the RailRiders are playing on the road outside their division since 2019 when they were in Durham from Sept. 4-6. They were last in Toledo in May 2019.
"I think we've been looking forward to that, getting out of the Northeast — not that we don't enjoy being here and playing in front of our fans and playing in this part of the country," RailRiders manager Doug Davis said. "I think it's just, again, more of the normalcy of the league, and kind of getting back to that I think is really important for us. So, going to Toledo is kind of the first one and we have a couple more later in the year."
The RailRiders (27-39) still have their most extensive road trip ahead, when they hit St. Paul, Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska, on back-to-back series Aug. 16-28. They'll also head to Durham from Sept. 5-11.
After winning consecutive series for the first time this year, the RailRiders will look to Owings, who has more than seven years of major league service time, to help keep the streak going against the Mud Hens (34-30).
With the Orioles, he batted just .107 with a .397 OPS, so he took the break to try to figure out some things.
"When I got let go, I went down and worked with my hitting coach and we kind of identified kind of how they were pitching me and why I didn't have the success in 60 ABs," Owings said. "So, I feel like I'm in a good spot."
In 2021, he was good when he was on the field, batting .326 with a 1.048 OPS with the Rockies. Two freak thumb injuries robbed him of most of the season, however.
Playing in a game at San Francisco, Owings' hand slipped off his bat on a foul ball and yanked his thumb down.
"Finished the AB and hit a triple," he said.
But when he got to third, he knew something wasn't right. It swelled up at night, then the next day, he couldn't button his shirt or tie his shoes. He tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb and needed surgery.
When he returned, he started playing frequently. One game, he knocked a game-tying hit in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Running to first base, he went to pump his fist, but his thumb caught the back of his leg.
"You've heard of mallet finger? That's basically what it was, but for my thumb," he said. "So, I just tore the ligament in half and I couldn't even lift it because there was no ligament."
Owings played winter ball to back into the swing of things, then the owners' lockout hit and he wouldn't sign with the Orioles until a couple weeks after it ended.
"The biggest thing is just I need to play," Owings said. "And you look at the past, even 2020, I got 40, 50 at-bats because I got hurt there, too."
Owings' versatility should help him find playing time with the RailRiders. In the big leagues, he's seen time at shortstop (253 games), second base (215), right field (79), center field (75), third base (33) and left field (12).
"I think it's versatility, it's experience, it's all of that," Davis said. "And we're going to just try to do whatever we can to help him just continue to further his career."
Contact the writer:
570-348-9125;
@RailRidersTT on Twitter
