PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – He's battled onto rosters with Arizona, including leading the league in triples in 2016. He did so at Kansas City, a Wild Card run with Boston, Colorado, Baltimore and now the Pirates as 31-year-old Chris Owings gets another opportunity in the Majors.
"I mean you never take it for granted," Owings said Monday. "You know, look at (Drew) Maggi's story. You really can't take anything for granted. You know, I'm just excited to be back and, you know, kind of take it one day at a time and just go out there and play hard and see what happens."
Within hours of arriving in Pittsburgh, Owings went right in the starting lineup at shortstop against the Rockies on Monday. A position that has given the Pirates some issues, especially defensively since Oneil Cruz was injured sliding into home on April 9.
"We're confident in the young players we have and how hard they're working," said GM Ben Cherington on the decision to pick Owings with all of the young middle infielders in the minors. "They're going to be good players. Young players are gonna continue to play. We saw an opportunity to add a little bit of defensive stability in the middle infield. Chris has been doing this for a long time. He's a really reliable defender who through a little (groin) injury that we had to get past in Indy, and but he's ready to play. We thought the timing was right to make that switch."
"The ability to play shortstop was something that was important to us," said Pirates Manager Derek Shelton. "We wanted to make sure we gave ourselves more functionality. We had to wait for [Owings] to get off the IL. He was on the IL down there, then get back and play."
Historically Owings hasn't brought a big bat (.273 with two HR in 44 AB in AAA this year), a career .239 average with a .287 OBP, 124 doubles and 37 home runs in 2,464 MLB plate appearances. However, the career fielding percentage is .977; only six errors in his last 239 MLB games.
Now he's back at the Show.
"My whole career, it's not been a smooth ride," Owings said. "I felt like every year when I was with the Diamondbacks, I was battling for a starting position. I've been in this position where I've made an Opening Day roster, got DFA'd, battled my way back to get back to the big leagues."
"It's nothing new, right? But you just have to tell yourself to regroup. I think that's what I did when I went to Indy. It took me a second, got hurt, then was able to come back this past week and play really well."
"I know they've hit a little bit of a skid, but I'm excited to be a part of it."
