To their credit, the Mets have built an organization deep with pitching talent. When you do that, you are eventually going to be faced with a difficult decision over who to keep and who to trade, who to promote and who to keep down, and who to protect and who to expose in the Rule 5 Draft. These are difficult and challenging decisions. With that said, this is why the front office is paid the money that they are paid. This past year the Mets had a choice between protecting Matthew Bowman or Jeff Walters in the Rule 5 Draft.
Bowman was a 2012 13th round selection out of Princeton University. He is a four pitch pitcher with no real outstanding out pitch. He was projected as a back of the rotation starter for a Mets organization that is deep in pitching talent. Therefore, if Bowman was ever going to make it to the majors, he was going to have to make it in the bullpen as a swing guy like a Logan Verrett or a Sean Gilmartin. With that in mind, the Mets decided to protect the player who had already had success in the bullpen.
That was their 2010 seventh round selection out off the University of Georgia, Jeff Walters. Walters possessed a 95+ MPH fastball with a hard slider he had difficulty controlling. In 2013, he had a breakout season for the Binghamton Mets going 4-3 with a 2.09 ERA, 1.107 WHIP, and a franchise record 42 saves. In 2014, he was promoted to Las Vegas, and he struggled mightily. As it turned out, Walters needed Tommy John surgery costing him the end of the 2014 season and the beginning of the 2015 season.
When he returned in 2015, he started working his way back up the Mets minor league system starting with GCL Mets. He ended the year in Double-A Binghamton where he went 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA and a 1.091 WHIP in 18 innings.
Now, it was likely that either Bowman or Walters were going to be picked in the Rule 5 draft given their repertoire and success in the minor leagues. You could’ve easily made a case for either player. The Mets chose Bowman. Unfortunately, the Mets chose wrong.
With the Cardinals this year, Bowman has been pitching well out of the bullpen. In his 16 appearances, he is 0-1 with a 3.74 ERA and a 1.154 WHIP. Batters are only hitting .238/.286/.333 against him. To put it in perspective, current Mets reliever Jim Henderson is 0-2 with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.269 WHIP. Batters are hitting .235/.296/.426 against him. So overall, Bowman has not only pitched well this year, but he has also pitched well enough to be considered for the current Mets bullpen, which has been good all year.
Walters, on the other hand, has not been very good. Walters reported to AAA where he has pitched in 23 games going 0-2 with a 9.27 ERA and a 2.507 WHIP. Due to the Mets current roster crunch with the various injuries at the major league level, Walters was the natural choice to remove from the 40 man roster. Unfortunately, Walters hasn’t rewarded the Mets faith in him when they selected him over Bowman.
This predicament only serves to highlight the fact that the Mets have a strong minor league system. Hopefully, Walters will rebound and return to the form the Mets had seen from him in AA. In the meantime, Bowman continues to have success for the Cardinals. Fortunately, the Mets decision to keep Walters over Bowman hasn’t served to come back and bite them. Hopefully, it never will.
Let’s face it, the Mets were very surprised Bowman was taken. Besides the obvious limitations you mentioned above, he had a HORRIBLE 2015. And I’m sure they are shocked he still is on the Cards roster, he pitched poorly in spring training and oly made the 25 man roster because he basically had to. Good for him for pitching well when the lights have come on, but let’s not cry a river.
I don’t think the Mets were that surprised he was taken, just didn’t wanted to protect Walters instead. He is a contact pitcher that had a bad 2015 which is pretty understandable in the PCL. But why would teams even employ scouts if they just looked online at stats? Bowman always had the potential to be a swing guy/5th starter and the Cardinals saw that. And they certainly wouldn’t have carried dead weight on their 25-man roster if they didn’t think he could pitch at the MLB level.
Hopefully, the people who get paid the executive bucks do a lessons learned here. It’s not a major blunder; but, it’s a learning opportunty that could prevent a blunder (see TJ Rivera)
Agreed, I was pretty surprised when they protected Walters over Bowman (not what I would have done). With Walters coming off TJS I think teams would have stayed away from wanting him on MLB roster all year.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/baseball/51s/51s-pitcher-chasen-bradford-gets-his-groove-back
read between the lines about this franchise.
Well no, the Mets chose Walters.
It’s only convenient posting such articles when the bullpen hits a rough patch… which every single team in MLB experiences. Never would this article see the light of day a month ago. Bowman likely wouldn’t be promoted if he was still in the system IMO. Guys like Gilmartin & Montero are ahead of him and Henderson was a lock to make it and remain as long as he kept effectiveness. Let’s also tell the whole story of late…. over his last 7 games, 3+ weeks, Bowman has 11.2 IP 12 h 5.40 ERA, .255 BAA/.263 BABIP…. like Verrett last season he may find his way back to Vegas before long for the last of the polish he may need to really be ready.
Its a bit early judge, Bowman, in my opinion, was recently on the verge of being DFAd with an ERA above 4 while blowing a game wide open in favor of the cards opponent. I still have hope that he returns to the Mets, smart dude
I remember some dead weight the Cardinals carried back in 1996 for a full season. A season in which they went to the postseason. His name was, or I guess I should say is, Miguel Mejia and it was a baffling decision as he was virtually a useless roster draining body that never showed any real potential of being an MLB player. He played parts of 2 more seasons, never above A ball then 2 games of indy ball then gone from baseball.
Just pointing out that STL doesn’t always make good decisions, especially in the rule 5.
He has only really been bad in 1 game this year but has shown pretty decent stuff in his other appearances. Really what more can you hope for out of a rule 5. By definition they are supposed to be players who are not quite ready for MLB or else their previous teams would have had them on the 40 man roster. They usually have some kind of upside potential though that is hoped will show through and flourish with the exposure to MLB coaches and players, etc.
Bowman has really done everything the Cardinals could have hoped from him and he gives them future flexibility of a guy with a good arm who can be your swingman or 5th starter for years to come.