Owens celebrates 25 years with A's: 'I've been blessed'

As Billy Owens enjoys his silver-anniversary season with the A’s in 2023, there’s a lot he can reflect on -- including how many hats he has worn for the organization.

Prior to his current role as assistant general manager and director of player personnel, Owens, 51, spent five seasons as an A’s Minor League hitting instructor, a post he started in 1999. By 2003, Owens was an area scout, and soon afterward, he was promoted to East Coast scouting coordinator.

Another promotion came Owens’ way in 2010, when he was named director of player personnel. The team added assistant GM to his résumé five years later.

“I’ve been blessed to get a great opportunity to get to work with awesome people and have a chance to really see baseball from every different angle and contribute. It has really been a blessing,” Owens said via telephone. “You start off by having a dream to play in the Major Leagues. As your career from a playing standpoint dwindles down, then from there you become a scout, you do a little coaching as well and you work your way up the ranks.”

Owens’ current responsibilities include providing input and recommendations for potential trades and free-agent signings, along with evaluation in the area of amateur scouting. He played a role in scouting and evaluating some of the promising prospects in the A’s pipeline.

Owens hopes to see several of them have an impact in the Major Leagues this coming season. That list is extensive: left-hander Ken Waldichuk (No. 2 on Oakland’s Top 30 prospects list, per MLB Pipeline), first baseman/catcher Tyler Soderstrom (No. 1), infielder Zack Gelof (No. 3), and first baseman/outfielder Lawrence Butler (No. 17).

In addition to evaluating players, Owens focuses a lot of his attention on putting together scouting reports, which he tries to make an enjoyable experience to read for the front office.

“You obviously want to go and see the player, you want to be able to evaluate, take your educated guess and hopefully get the player right,” Owens said. “You want to put your own niche and have a different style. … You want [the report to be] something people look forward to reading. It can be forward, direct. It can be a little bit funny as you tell a story. The literature can be expanded. It’s something I take great pride in.”

Emotions often come into play in baseball, which Owens experienced firsthand during MLB’s inaugural Draft Lottery at the Winter Meetings in San Diego last December.

In 2022, Oakland had the second-worst record in baseball behind the Nationals. The odds of getting at least the second overall pick seemed to be in the A’s favor. But they ended up getting the sixth pick in the 2023 Draft, while the Pirates and Nationals nabbed the first two picks, respectively. Cameras captured the disappointed look on Owens’ face.

“It was a competition, but the lottery is totally out of your control,” Owens said. “Your expectations were high, but when it fell to a certain number, the look on my face exuded how I felt. But I love the aspect of everybody competing -- all 30 clubs have an opportunity. This was … agreed upon by all parties to have a [lottery] like that. So I’m going to embrace it.”

A native of San Jose, Calif., Owens knew at the age of 7 that he wanted to be involved in baseball after attending a hot stove dinner in the area. The featured speakers were Dodgers outfielders Dusty Baker and Reggie Smith. To a young Billy, they were bigger than life.

“They were so positive. They made it a dream of mine to follow in those guys’ footsteps,” Owens said. “For those guys to come speak at that hot stove dinner spoke volumes. They were able to get a fan for life in me.”

Owens did follow in Baker’s and Smith’s footsteps, becoming a professional baseball player in the Orioles’ and Astros’ Minor League systems from 1992-98, before joining Oakland as a coach.

Owens would like to become a general manager one day; he recently interviewed with the Mets and Giants when those positions were open. Owens is grateful that he was given a chance to go after those jobs, and though he didn’t secure either position, his focus remains on the A’s and trying to help the club be both competitive and innovative every day.

“I’m grateful to be 51 years old in Major League Baseball, having a chance to have really good opportunities, a chance to succeed, move the needle, participate, mentor and a chance for excellence,” he said. “I don’t define myself by any title. I’m excited, elated and grateful for my opportunity in Major League Baseball.”