- June 4, 2026
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There isn’t one dimension of the game Owen Ayers is overly concerned with. Struggles haven’t persisted for him in the batter’s box, on the base paths or behind the plate.
When they do occur, inconsistency is the cause, he said. So the 24-year-old catcher has dedicated himself to approaching every game the same in his third season of minor-league play.
“The hardest thing for me is just trying to show up and be the same guy every day,” Ayers said. “That consistency is what allows your talent (to shine and for me) to play my best.”
It took two years to learn that — two seasons spent at the same level of the Chicago Cubs’ system. The results of putting it into practice have him trending upward.
Ayers, who graduated from Sarasota High in 2019, has been with the Knoxville Smokies of Double-A since April 21. It’s the highest level of professional baseball he’s played in since the Cubs selected him with pick No. 572 overall in the 19th round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
Remarkable consistency with the South Bend Cubs of High-A earned him that promotion. He batted .372 with six home runs and 14 RBIs across 43 at-bats, getting sent up after just 11 games.
“I think he could be a big-leaguer, and scouts that I’ve talked to feel the same way,” said Clyde Metcalf, the Sarasota baseball coach from 1981-2022. “His career's on the ascent, and if he just keeps his head down and keeps doing what he's doing, he's got a really good shot to one day play in the big leagues.”
It’s not this year alone which has treated Ayers well. He ended 2025 strong, and translated that success quickly coming out of spring training.
Last fall, the catcher posted a fourth-best .379 batting average along with three home runs and 16 RBIs for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. He stayed patient at the plate, drawing more walks than any other player, and his 25 hits were tied for sixth-most.
That effort earned him recognition as the AFL Breakout Player of the Year. The previous three award winners — Caleb Durbin in 2024, Oliver Dunn in 2023 and Edouard Julien in 2022 — each made their respective MLB debuts one season afterward.
Triple-A still stands in Ayers’ way if he’s going to continue that trend. Again, he pointed to consistency as the “how” behind that award being added to his trophy case.
“I figured some things out — how to be consistent, show up every day and do the same thing,” Ayers said. “But that's something that I think tends to go up and down in this game, where you figure some things out, and then you fall back and have some struggles, too.”
Pro successes aside, he was not a four-year player in high school. He made varsity for the first time as a junior in 2018 and was a “late bloomer,” Metcalf said, with the Sailors.
Metcalf got to know him as a talented, but skinny, ballplayer who lacked the physical stature to match his abilities. Ayers was listed at 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds as a senior, per MaxPreps.
The now-catcher didn’t even play that position for Sarasota in his first season with the team. Metcalf, though, found a use for him elsewhere on the diamond.
Such is the intuition of a Florida Sports Hall of Famer who saw 14 of his former players reach the majors by the time he retired.
“He came to us as a catcher, but we had a guy ahead of him, so we played him in right field,” Metcalf said. “He probably led the state in assists that year, throwing guys out, because he had a cannon for an arm. He was a tremendous outfielder.”
Ayers hadn’t impressed enough to earn an NCAA Division I offer by the time he graduated, though. He worked from the bottom up by playing three seasons with the State College of Florida from 2019-22 at the JUCO level.
During that span, he recorded a .276 batting average, .383 on-base percentage, 23 home runs and 112 RBIs. Marshall baseball’s staff was plenty impressed and offered Ayers the opportunity to transfer into their program for the 2023 season.
As a junior for the Herd, he tallied 23 doubles, setting the program’s single-season record. Then he set it again with 25 as a senior while bumping up his batting average from .283 to .292.
He now considers himself an advocate for the JUCO road to the pros — one which is less traveled than the NCAA’s. He’s proof that it can, in fact, pay off.
“It was big for me, because I needed a lot more at-bats and playing time,” Ayers said. “You get to play a lot and that was a big part of development for me.”
Consistency began to define his play near the end of year two with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of Single-A. In July 2025, he racked up 18 RBIs in an 18-game stretch.
But that was disrupted when he broke a bone in his right hand, ultimately requiring surgery, and was placed on the 60-day injured list.
Ayers came back to assemble an award-winning fall. Then he followed it with a stellar start to 2026, climbing a few rungs on the minor-league ladder.
He’s tried to be the same guy throughout it all, not just from month to month, but from week to week and day to day.
“I’ve gotten to that point where the skills and the talent is there,” Ayers said. “It’s just, ‘How often can I put that together and be my best self out there on the field?’”
