Texas Rangers TWP Josh Owens, the club's third-round pick in the 2025 draft, spent this summer with the ACL Rangers, showing off both sides of his game as a two-way player.
The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Owens bats left and throws right.
At the Plate
Owens appeared in 40 games and slashed .255/.345/.469/.814 with 9 home runs, 36 RBIs, 4 doubles, 16 walks and 6 stolen bases. The power numbers stood out. In games where exit velocity data was available, Owens posted a max EV of 108.9 mph, an encouraging sign of the raw power he can tap into.
That raw power was on full display in a 21-3 win over the ACL Angels — Owens' final game of the season, and, I believe, the first time in his professional career he both pitched and batted in the same game. He went 2-for-6 with a grand slam and 5 RBI batting out of the 9-hole as the DH, with the slam leaving his bat at 100.2 mph.
Owens fared much better against right-handed pitching, hitting .267/.348/.517/.865 with all 9 of his home runs coming against RHP. Against lefties, in a much smaller sample of 30 plate appearances, he slashed .200/.333/.240/.573.
On the Mound
Owens also pitched in 12 games, seven of them starts, throwing 20.2 innings with a 3.48 ERA. He struck out 24 against 7 walks, good for a 10.5 K/9. Right-handed hitters posted a .282/.349/.410/.759 line against him, while lefties hit .333/.386/.385/.771 — both numbers that come with the caveat of a small sample across 20.2 total innings. In 18 pitches that were tracked, Owens threw 17 sinkers averaging 96.4 mph with a 30% whiff rate, along with one slider at 84.7 mph.
In that same win over the Angels, Owens opened the game on the mound and worked a scoreless inning, striking out a batter on 13 pitches — 10 for strikes — while touching 97.0 mph.
The Rangers have kept both Owens and fellow two-way player Kim on a short leash on the mound this season. Kim didn't make his first pitching appearance until June 23, and neither he nor Owens threw more than two innings in any outing all year.
Looking Ahead
Owens could still see an assignment to an affiliate before the season is over. Either way, he's put together a strong season, flashing power at the plate and a mid-90s sinker that missed bats at a high clip. How the Rangers develop him going forward, whether that means leaning into one role or continuing the two-way path, will be one of the more interesting storylines to track.
Data via TJStats and baseball-reference.
