South Portland’s Hunter Owen has been coming right at hitters in his first professional season pitching for the Kansas City Royals’ High-A farm team the Quad Cities River Bandits. Chris Shepard

Like every baseball player in his position, Hunter Owen has had good games and bad games in his first season in pro ball.

The 22-year-old, 6-foot-6, 261-pound left-handed pitcher from South Portland High and Vanderbilt prefers mowing down Midwest League hitters for the High-A Quad Cities River Bandits, a Kansas City Royals affiliate based in Davenport, Iowa. But what makes him especially pleased is that he’s ready to take the ball when it’s his turn to start. That was not the case in his sophomore and junior seasons at Vanderbilt when injuries limited his availability.

“It’s definitely a great feeling just being able to be reliable and go out there and be durable for what will be 100-plus innings,” Owen told the Press Herald recently. “I definitely knew that was possible. The last two years with a couple of nagging injuries, that’s just two years of baseball. But what I did in the offseason set me up for success and health and I’m truly grateful.”

As a junior at Vanderbilt, Owen was a fast-riser on mock draft boards through the first half of the season, with multiple outlets viewing him as a possible late first-round pick. But he missed four scheduled starts over the final six weeks with shoulder soreness. The Royals chose him in the fourth round, 106th overall. Owen spent the second half of the 2023 season with the Royals’ spring training complex team but did not pitch in any games.

“We felt comfortable with him starting his professional journey at Quad Cities,” said Mitch Maier, the Royals’ director of player development. “We really like the arsenal, the pitchability. Hunter understands how to pitch and that was really evident from the start of spring training. We knew it was a jump going to High-A and he’s handled it really well.”

Entering Tuesday, Owen was 6-7 with a 4.45 ERA over 93 innings pitched and 19 starts (he did make one relief appearance). He’s struck out 71 batters while walking 30 for a 1.23 WHIP.

“His first full season, we are extremely pleased with the way it’s gone,” Maier said, adding that the club views him as a starter.

Owen started the season exceptionally well, allowing two runs or less in his first four pro starts, including a scoreless six innings of one-hit ball at Beloit, Wisconsin on April 30. It was more of a rollercoaster in May and June. Some games he was hit hard. Others like a one-hit, two-walk seven-inning effort at Great Lakes on June 20, boosted his confidence.

“That felt good. I was the first person on the team to go seven innings,” Owen said.

Dealing with – and learning from – the tough starts is an important part of the developmental process.

One outcome is that Owen is throwing his changeup more often, while his curveball – a key pitch in college – has become his fourth pitch.

“Particularly in our league, we had a lot of right-handed hitters and I wasn’t throwing the changeup more and it forced me to throw it more and it followed up with success,” Owen said.

In an Aug. 10 start, Owen had a no-hitter through four innings before being pulled by Quad Cities Manager Brooks Conrad.

“We’re starting to taper off on his pitch count to help him out and look to his future,” Conrad said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t normally take a guy out when he’s pitching a no-hitter.”

Conrad added, “He always wants the ball. He’s an ultra competitor. He wants to stay out there and he’s not real happy when I have to take him out when he hits a pitch count.”

Owen has been particularly tough on left-handed hitters, who are hitting .167 with 19 strikeouts and no home runs.

“I think I throw (a) good fastball in and a slider out and for lefties, I already know they’re uncomfortable in the box so I try to make them not comfortable at all,” he said.

Maier said Owen’s over-the-top delivery makes for repeatable pitches. Coming out of his hand, Owen’s hard four-seam fastball that rides up on a left-handed hitter looks an awful lot like the cutter that ends up on the outside portion of the plate.

“He’s kind of short with his delivery and that ball kind of explodes out,” Maier said. “It tunnels well and they don’t see it well and it darts of or explodes by you and that makes decision-making tough on lefties.”

Plus, “he’s a big guy so he’s coming down the slope at you and that’s not easy certainly,” Maier added.

Owen said he expects to make as many as four more starts before his first pro season concludes. Then he’ll likely return to Nashville, Tennessee, and do his offseason training at Vanderbilt’s facility. Whether he returns to Quad Cities or moves up the Royals’ ladder will be “a spring training decision,” Owen said.

“I just do what I know I need to do and get ready for spring training.”