Kaleb Bryant Cowart (born June 2, 1992) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

organization. He has played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

. He won the Gatorade High School Baseball Player of the Year Award in 2010. Cowart was drafted by the

in the first round (18th overall) in the

2010 Major League Baseball Draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pic ...

High school

Cowart attended Cook High School in

Adel, Georgia The city of Adel is the county seat of Cook County, Georgia, United States, located fifty-two miles (84 km) southeast of Albany. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 5,571. History The original name of the city was Puddlevi ...

. In his senior year, Cowart played third base and also pitched. As a pitcher he went 10–1 with a 1.05

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 73 innings, recording 116

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and one save. As a batter, he hit .654 with 11

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, 59

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) and scored 55

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

s. He also recorded a 1.206

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

, a .721

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and was 36/36 in

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s. His

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

was the second-highest in state history for a single season. He was named the 2010 Gatorade National High School Baseball Player of the Year.

Professional career

Los Angeles Angels

The

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

selected Cowart in the first round, with the 18th overall selection, in the

2010 Major League Baseball draft The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. First-round selections The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pic ...

. He was selected as a compensation pick from the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

for the signing of

Chone Figgins Desmond DeChone Figgins (; ; born January 22, 1978) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Seattle Mariners, and Los Angeles Dodgers ...

. Though he committed to play baseball at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

, Cowart signed with the Angels. Cowart played for the

Cedar Rapids Kernels The Cedar Rapids Kernels are Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and play their home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels are owned ...

of the Class A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

and

Inland Empire 66ers The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. The 66ers are based in San Bernardino, California, and play at San Manuel Stadium. Franchise ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

in 2012. Between the two levels, he had a .276

and 16

s in 135 games. Promoted to the

Arkansas Travelers The Arkansas Travelers, also known informally as The Travs, are a Minor League Baseball team based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Travelers are affiliated with the Seattle Mariners as members of the Texas League. History The team succeeded ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

in 2013, Cowart struggled, batting .221 with six home runs and 124

s in 132 games. Returning to Arkansas in 2014, Cowart batted .223 with six home runs and 99 strikeouts in 126 games. After two poor seasons, the Angels assigned Cowart to Inland Empire to start the 2015 season, where he demonstrated an improvement in

plate discipline This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. ...

. In June, due to promotions of C. J. Cron,

Efren Navarro Efren or Efrén is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Efrén Echeverría (born 1932), musician guitarist, composer, and compiler from Paraguay *Efrén Pérez Rivera (born 1929), former college professor and noted Puerto Rican envi ...

, and

Kyle Kubitza Kyle Andrew Kubitza (born July 15, 1990) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels. Career Kubitza attended Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Tex ...

to the major leagues, the Angels promoted Cowart to the

Salt Lake Bees The Salt Lake Bees are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. They are located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and play their home games at Smith's Ballpark. The ballpark op ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, where he batted .323/.395/.491. The Angels promoted Cowart to the major leagues on August 18, 2015. He made his major league debut that night. After the 2015 season, Cowart changed his

uniform number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to ...

from 41 to 22. In 2016, he appeared in 31 games for the Angels, hitting .176. The following season, he played in 50 games, hitting .225 with 3 home runs. He began the 2018 season in AAA, being recalled during the season. In 47 games, he hit .134 with 1 home run and 10 RBIs.

Seattle Mariners

On December 10, 2018, the

claimed Cowart off of waivers and announced he would come to spring training as a third baseman and as a pitcher.

Detroit Tigers

The Mariners designated him for assignment on January 21, 2019, and he was claimed off waivers by the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

on January 24.

Second stint with Angels

Cowart returned to the Angels on February 23, 2019, when they claimed him off waivers from the Tigers. He split the 2019 minor league season between Mobile and Salt Lake. He hit a combined .276/.331/.433/.764 with 9 home runs and 62 RBI, while going 1-2 with a 10.19 ERA over innings pitched. On September 18, the Angels selected Cowart's contract. Cowart elected free agency following the 2019 season.

New York Yankees

On December 20, 2019, Cowart signed a minor league contract with the

. Cowart did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On April 19, 2022, Cowart re-signed with the Yankees organization on a new minor league contract and was assigned to the Single-A

Tampa Tarpons The Tampa Tarpons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Tampa, Florida. The Tarpons play their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowart, Kaleb 1992 births Living people Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Major League Baseball third basemen Los Angeles Angels players Arizona League Angels players Orem Owlz players Cedar Rapids Kernels players Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino players Scottsdale Scorpions players Arkansas Travelers players Mesa Solar Sox players Salt Lake Bees players Florida Complex League Yankees players