This will be Bowman’s third stint with Minnesota. He signed a minor league deal for the 2023-2024 offseason and was part of the team in mid-April. He made five appearances before being designated for assignment and traded to the Diamondbacks. Bowman bounced around throughout the ’24 season and returned to Minnesota on a new minor league contract in July. He activated an opt-out six weeks later and spent the next year with the Orioles and Astros.
The 34-year-old right back played twenty games in the big league for the Orioles last season. He struggled to a 6.20 ERA with a 15.8% strikeout rate over 24 2/3 innings. While Bowman has never missed many bats, he has traditionally gotten a lot of ground balls. That wasn’t the case last season, as he had a career-high 35% grounder rate.
Bowman had a better season in Triple-A, where he combined for a 3.93 ERA in 31 appearances. The grounders still lagged, but he struck out a league average that faced 22.7% of batters. Bowman pitched parts of seven seasons at the highest minor league level, posting a 4.14 ERA in nearly 400 innings.
The Twins sold virtually all of their high-leverage weapons at last year’s deadline. They signed an old friend Taylor Rogers to a $2MM free agent deal and traded Erik Orze in a small trade with the Rays. Rogers could step back into a closer role for which he is likely miscast at this point in his career. Cabbage Sand, Justin Topa And Kody Funderburk have been fined for leverage. On paper, it is one of the weakest bullpens in the MLB. That opens up good opportunities for invitees who aren’t on the list and are trying to earn a mid-career job. And Altavilla And Grant Hartwig have also signed minor league deals this offseason.
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