It's amazing the things people *don't* say, sometimes.

So he wants to be a poor rich man's Rick Ankiel?

Not sure where you're coming from with that comment. Ankiel A) didn't pitch at all after the transition, and B) wasn't the caliber of amateur (or for that matter, professional, prior to the transition) hitter that Owings was.

Even if this "works", it's still not a sure thing that an organization will be creative enough to actually take advantage of it (cf. Brooks Kieschnick, who had positive WAR in a PH/RP role for minimum wage, but was dumped anyway.) I'm cautiously optimistic to see how it goes.

Kieschnick pitched well in 2004 in the majors, but didn't hit; in AAA in 2005, he hit .300 but pitched lousy. There may be a sense in which organizations are always looking for a reason to cut a guy, and so a two-way player gives them twice as much chance at doing so.

The Astros' Brian Bogusevic and Owings were on the same pitching staff at Tulane. Bogusevic was drafted as a pitcher, switched to outfielder in AA, and has been a right fielder in the majors for a year and a half. It's interesting that two pitchers drafted from the same college team switched to hitting at around the same age.

Just 8 walks and 72 K's in his 219 PA's

Something tells me a 9/1 K/BB ration aint gonna cut it long term. Sure he was pitcher looking to get his hacks in, but plate discipline is a very likely issue for him.

And odd thing for him too is he has a massive reverse split. SSS to be sure, but it's really big.

They should have tried this 3 years ago. He's going to be 30 next year.

Just 8 walks and 72 K's in his 219 PA's

As a pitcher Owings has a career 3.88 BB/9 ratio. Too bad Owings the hitter can't "face" his doppelganger!

Owings would have been great in the Negro Leagues, except of course for the fact that he isn't an 92 year old black man.

Are you implying that the quality level of the Negro Leagues was so low that 92 year old black men used to dominate it?

As a pitcher, Ankiel had a (batting) K/W ratio of nearly 5/1; that's down to 3/1 since he's been a full-time outfielder. So Owings could improve. Many factors are certainly at work, but one might be that pitchers just do not see many pitches that aren't strikes, no matter who they are or what their approach to batting. Simply batting 7th or 8th, instead of in front of the leadoff man, would improve a decent hitter's ratio.

Are you implying that the quality level of the Negro Leagues was so low that 92 year old black men used to dominate it?

Well, Satch did, and who knows how old he was?

He was Satch, though. That makes a lot of difference.