When you have Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero and even the rising Steven Matz in the pitching chamber as the Mets do, it’s easy for some of the other up-and-comers to get lost in the shuffle.
Take a look at 23-year-old starting pitching prospect Matt Bowman. Last season Bowman started 23 games between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Las Vegas, combining to go 10-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 134.2 innings pitched.
Bowman is a smaller guy (6’0, 165 lbs), with a funky Tim Lincecum-like delivery, as he explained it to MLB.com’s Michael Baron.
“I’m kind of a small guy but I feel like my body control is decent, so the turning and the lean back generates velocity,” Bowman told Baron.
While Bowman said that his delivery is used to deceive hitters and even add more movement to his pitches, it’s also about helping him stay healthy.
“It’s more a matter of injury prevention,” Bowman explained to Baron. “I really throw only close to my velocity, I might take it a little further but in terms of keeping the elbow feeling good and the shoulder feeling good this is what I feel works.”
While Bowman may not be overpowering – his fastball maxes-out in the low ’90s – he has command of all four of his pitches with the fastball, curveball, slider and change-up. In fact, over the course of three minor league seasons, Bowman has walked just 73 hitters in 291 career innings pitched. In that same time, he’s struck out 270 hitters, good for a 3.7:1 career strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Bowman may not be the flashiest prospect, as he’s mostly flown under the radar as he’s risen through the Mets system. But that doesn’t mean the team hasn’t taken notice. Many members of the Mets organization have indicated to Baron over the last year they are very high on Bowman, crediting his maturity and his deceptive delivery for his early success.
Bowman is likely to start out the 2015 season in Triple-A, where he finished out the 2014 season.
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