On May 19, 8:39 am, Wayback1918 <wayback1
...@verizon.net> wrote:
> He certainly is pitching amazingly well at Pawtucket.
> 2009
> Starts 7
> Inninngs 42
> ER 4
> Hits 19
> K 28
> BB 16
> OP AVe .136
> Only 22 years old.
> Tough to find fault there...... (but wait a minute I'll try)
> Bowden was not ranked among the elite prospects on anyone's pre-season
> list
> Some publications thought he was a good prospect....
> John Sickels rated him a "B+"
> Baseball Prospectus had him #31 (13th pitcher ranked)
> The Sporting News had him #35
> Other not quite as high......
> Baseball America had him #83 In the 2009 BA Prospect book they
> describe him as a #3 guy.
> MLB.com did not include him in their top 50
> ESPN ranked him #56
> These predictions were, of course, before he put up his 2009 AAA
> numbers.....(and his very brief but impressive cameo with the big
> club)
> So what's not to like........?
> He isn't a stikeout pitcher. Only 6.0 per 9 innings. Not bad if
> your a Major League pitcher but nothing special if you are a top AAA
> prospect.
> His BB per 9 is 3.4. That's not a number that would you would say
> indicates a 'Control problem'....but it doesn't describe pin point
> accuracy either.
> Combined they give a rather uninspiring 1.75 K/W ratio.
> He is also a fly ball pitcher GO/AO 2008 0.87 2009 0.88.
> However...even though he appears to work up in the strike zone he
> hasn't given up a HR this year and doesn't have a history of being
> prone to the long ball.
> It does concern me as to how well a minor league fly ball pitcher
> without a good strike out pitch can translate to the Majors.
> Do we have a high ceiling prospect.....or do we have Paul Byrd?
> So I ask the question is Bowden's real worth as solid future (or
> present) contributor to the Major League pitching staff?......or is
> hemore valuable as a trading chip who may not be quite as good his
> 2009 numbers suggest?
> I think the latter.
> Christina will be by later to explain why I was wrong about
> this........
No Wayback actually I never thought of Bowden as a super star, I am
some what in between, originally I was more like you, I thought he was
a #3 starter which is valuable but not esential, a 200 inning pitcher
with good control and a solid era, it was only this spring when he
bulked up that I started thinking more highly of him, still I agree
that the strike out rate could be what they call a red flag, Brian
Rose comes to mind at times when I think of good minor league pitchers
with mediocre strike out rates, though Bowden's was higher before and
it could be from a small sample. Still I also would have no problem
trading him when his value is so high as does John!
The only thing I would say as the adendum is that Sickels is VERY
conservative with prospects, from him a B + is actually a really good
grade, he gives hardly any A's and A -'s especially for pitchers. So
for him that is high praise, the other publications are more in the
good not great fashion.
