What Could Have Been? Micah Owings

Let's take a look back at a player the Cubs went after but let get away in the 2004 draft.

Back in 2004, the Cubs took Micah Owings in the 19th round, as he was coming off of a decent season at Georgia Tech, going 9-3 with an ERA of 3.89 and hit 318/394/549. Eleven rounds earlier, the Cubs took Owings' college teammate, Eric Patterson. The Cubs were unable to sign Owings, but more on that later. The following season Micah Owings returned to college, although not to Georgia Tech as he transferred to Tulane where he went 12-3 and hit 355/470/719.

Owings had been a 2nd round pick back in 2002 by the Colorado Rockies out of high school, but just as he did the Cubs, he spurned the Rockies in lieu of college. Finally, after his junior season in college, Owings signed as a 3rd round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks. In his professional debut in 2005, Owings went 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 16 games in relief at High A Lancaster.

This season Owings burst onto the prospect scene going 16-2 with an ERA of 3.33 combined between AA and AAA, and that includes going 10-0 after his promotion to AAA Tucson in the PCL, a noted hitters league. Despite focusing on pitching, Owings hitting hasn't fallen off much either, as he hit 356/361/508 in limited action.

Owings is an example of a using a later round selection on a guy that might sign if given a high enough signing bonus. In 2004, Owings wasn't seen as a priority to the Cubs organization once the trifecta of Eric Patterson, Mark Reed, and Mitch Atkins were given signing bonuses combined to about 1.1 million dollars.