David Laurila of FanGraphs.com recently profiled Mets prospect Matt Bowman.
Bowman, a 6’0 right-handed starting pitcher, was drafted in the 13th round by the Mets in the 2012 MLB Draft. After being drafted, Matt was assigned to short-season Brooklyn for the remainder of the season. He went on to pitch 29.1 innings for the Cyclones, posting a 2.45 ERA while sporting a 20:2 strikeout to walk ratio and a sub-1.00 WHIP. The Maryland native would split 2013 between Low-A affiliate Savannah and St. Lucie, the Mets High-A club. He finished 2013 with a 3.05 ERA in 127 innings between the two levels, while striking out 116 and walking 35. So far in 2014, Bowman has a sparkling 0.75 ERA in 12 innings for Double-A Binghamton. He’s struck out 15 in that span while walking just two hitters.
But this isn’t about Matt Bowman the pitcher.
As you may or may not know, Bowman attended Princeton University, an Ivy League school. As a student in Princeton, Bowman wrote a thesis paper that centered around how much a win is worth in free agency. That led Laurila to wonder if maybe Bowman has a future as a member of an MLB front office. Laurila spoke to Bowman about his thesis paper.
“It looked into how much a win is worth in free agency,” Bowman tells FanGraphs. “I looked into projected wins and what a team thinks they’re paying for a win as opposed to what they end up paying for a win. Why is there a discrepancy between the two? I looked at players and evaluated them basically as stocks paying off dividends in the form of WAR. What is their variance season to season, and based on that, what value do they hold?”
So Bowman is clearly a fan of sabermetrics and follows them closely, but does he apply that knowledge to his own pitching? Not exactly.
“When it comes to my personal experience, I’m the complete opposite,” admitted Bowman. “As a starter, I think the most important stat is innings pitched. It’s the old-school opinion that starting pitchers should be workhorses and eat up a lot of innings. I’m aware if certain other stats are good or bad, like my strikeouts-to-walks ratio, but I mostly try to avoid them. Getting caught up in stats can lead to complacency, or getting a little too involved if things are going poorly.”
“I feel that breaking down your personal performance too much can be detrimental,” opined Bowman. “There’s a feel to pitching and the simplest numbers are the most important. How deep did you go into the game and did you put up a zero? If you’re trying to do more than that, I think you’re trying to be a pitcher you’re not.”
Perhaps being aware and open to newfangled statistics has helped. It’s also impressive that he’s able to shelve those thoughts when he analyzes himself, choosing to instead simplify things in an attempt to not overthink on the mound.
For now, Bowman is a Mets pitching prospect on the rise. However it appears that when he hangs his cleats up he may have a future in the front office if he chooses to go that route.
Read the rest of Laurila’s interesting article here.
