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His name is Brendon Cowsill, but you can call him “Slash.”
Cowsill has filled many roles in his five years in the Anaheim Angels organization. He was drafted as a third baseman, but after two lackluster seasons with the stick was switched to pitcher. He appeared to be carving out a niche as a closer when he recorded six saves for Boise in 1996 and he filled that role last season for the Cedar Rapids Kernels when he had three saves.
But he was reassigned to Cedar Rapids for the 1998 Midwest League season and was designated a middle reliever. He had the same role after a late April promotion to Lake Elsinore of the California League, but came back to the Kernels two weeks ago as a starter.
Hence, the nickname “Slash.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen it all so far,” Cowsill said Thursday, after his second start for the Kernels ended in disappointment when Rockford’s Nelson Abreu belted a two-run home run in the eighth inning that bet the Kernels, 2-1.
Abreu’s blast brought Cowsill’s string of 13 consecutive scoreless innings as a starter to an end. He had given up only five hits and two runs in 13 1/3 innings as a starter.
“I like starting the most hands down,” Cowsill (2-1, 1.74 ERA) said. “You get to prepare yourself more, face more batters and learn the game more, really. I’m still pretty new to pitching.”
Cowsill also gets to throw more changeups, which has fast become his most effective pitch.
“Coming out of the bullpen, in short relief, I didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities to use it,” he said. “You need other pitches to set it up.
“How that I’m allowed to face more batters, it’s a lot of fun being able to use different pitches to set up pitches.”
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