How Orioles top pick Colton Cowser is getting back to himself at Aberdeen — and getting some more sleep, too

It hasn't been the full-season start last year's No. 5 overall pick envisioned. But with his eye locking in and hard contact still coming, confidence is high he's getting himself on track.

During Adley Rutschman’s rehab tour of the Orioles’ farm, the game’s top prospect and Colton Cowser, the Orioles’ most recent top pick, went out to a dinner in which Rutschman shared some insights into how he fits in his daily work and routines over the course of a six-month season.

Cowser had a particular aspect of that he’d been struggling with, a somewhat telling factor that betrays just how new to the professional baseball lifestyle even the most developed college hitter in the draft can be: sleep.

“I actually sat down with our strength coach, Mike Thomson, and I was trying to get my sleep schedule right because you’re up late, it’s hard to wind down toward the end of the night,” he told me. “I was getting to bed kind of late. I sat down with him and asked, ‘What are some things I can do?’ We sat down and got a little bit of a goal, get in bed here, wake up then. Your first meal of the day should be your biggest meal because you’re not trying to eat too much right before the game, not trying to stock up on a bunch of food to keep you energized and up at night. Definitely still adjusting as everyone is, I think, and it’s just been a learning process.”

Most things have been over the last two months for Cowser, who is all at once having to remember to be the hitter that made him one of the country’s best last year while also learning how to be a professional ballplayer and, more specifically, an Orioles hitter.