Owings trying to grind way to another Opening Day roster

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Chris Owings is part of an exclusive club. The exact membership is unknown, but it likely can’t be more than a handful of players.

In three consecutive years -- 2020, ’21 and ’22 -- Owings parlayed Minor League deals with invitations to Spring Training into spots on an Opening Day roster. Doing it once is difficult enough. Doing it three times in three straight seasons is rare territory. Now, he’s attempting to four-peat.

“What it really boils down to is having the opportunity and coming out and playing hard every single day,” said Owings, who had a single in the Pirates’ 3-0 win over the Yankees on Saturday. “There really isn’t anything else that it boils down to.”

The difficulty of a non-roster invitee making the Opening Day roster lies in the logistics of the 40-man roster.

A team must clear space in order to add a non-roster invitee to the 40-man roster. There are two ways to do so. The first is by adding someone to the 60-day injured list, assuming there’s an injury; players on the 60-day injured list don’t count towards the 40-man roster. The second is by removing someone from the 40-man roster, whether that be via trade, release or designation for assignment.

Therefore, a non-roster invitee must present a very compelling case during Spring Training if they want to convince a team to shuffle its 40-man roster. At Spring Training’s midway point, Owings owns an .852 OPS with a home run and a double across 21 plate appearances.

Owings attributes some of his success this spring to the re-introduction of a leg lift in his swing. He utilized a leg lift for much of his career, but beginning in 2019 -- a season in which Owings had an unsavory .443 OPS across 196 plate appearances -- Owings said the leg kick “got a little out of hand.”

Beginning in 2020, Owings transitioned to a toe tap to minimize the moving parts. He found success when healthy, but after posting a .397 OPS across 68 plate appearances with Baltimore, Owings eschewed the toe tap and re-incorporated the leg lift.

“I feel like it has helped free me up a little bit, where maybe there were some timing issues in the past with my toe tap,” Owings said. “That’s one little thing and there are some other things too, but I would say that’s the bigger thing that I’ve messed with and changed.”

While Owings is impressing at the plate, his true calling card is his defensive versatility, a trait that is, more or less, a prerequisite for players competing for a bench spot.

During his decade in the Majors, Owings has spent time at second base, third base, shortstop, left field, right field and center field. He’s primarily a middle infielder, having played 253 games at shortstop and 215 games at second base, but the 31-year-old can move around the diamond as needed.

Owings played solely infield for the first three seasons of his career, but beginning in 2016, Owings began playing a healthy amount of outfield as well. In ‘16 in particular, Owings played 585 2/3 innings at shortstop and 403 innings in center field. Since that season, no other player has logged at least 500 innings in center field and 400 innings at shortstop in a single season.

All told, Owings’ resumé boasts 501 games in the infield and 166 games in the outfield. He has only played infield this spring -- five games at shortstop, two at third base and one at second base -- but he should get time in the outfield as the games roll along.

Owings credits Willie Bloomquist, the super-utility player who spent time at all three outfield spots and all four non-catcher infield positions, for imparting a morsel of wisdom: Never stop taking grounders at short.

“He was like, ‘Dude, you need to keep getting your ground balls at short. If you lose that, you’re going to lose your ability to play there, then it trickles to other positions,’” Owings said. “That’s something that’s really stuck with me.”

For his credentials, Owings is fighting an uphill battle. Along with being a non-roster invitee, the Pirates have no shortage of utility players already on the 40-man roster, whether it be Ji Hwan Bae, Tucupita Marcano or Connor Joe.

Owings understands the challenge he faces, but he also knows the power of an opportunity. He’s made the most of his cards in three consecutive seasons. Time will tell if he can achieve the quadfecta.