The Twins have signed right-hander Matt Bowman to a minor league deal, reports Aaron Gleeman of AaronGleeman.com. He will report to Triple-A St. Paul and give the Saints a fresh bullpen arm.
Bowman and the Twins are plenty familiar with each other. He pitched for them in 2024, one of many clubs he has suited up for in his journeyman career. He signed a minor league deal with the club in February of this year. At the end of spring training, he triggered an opt-out and was released, but signed a new deal shortly thereafter. He opted out of that deal in May, which led to a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. Last week, he opted out of that deal as well, which allowed the Twins to re-sign him today.
Around all the deal-signing and out-opting, he has thrown 30 Triple-A innings this year, allowing 4.20 earned runs per nine. He has probably deserved better than that. His .325 batting average on balls in play and 69.1% strand rate are both a bit to the unlucky side. Meanwhile, his 26.8% strikeout rate, 7.1% walk rate and 54.3% ground ball rate are all better than average.
His big league career numbers are close to that, without as many strikeouts. He has logged 240 2/3 innings over seven different seasons with a 4.38 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 52.3% ground ball rate.
Those strong results have not yet resulted in a major league call-up this year but St. Paul is a pretty good spot for him to be. Minnesota relievers have a collective 5.25 ERA this year, which is the worst such mark in the majors. Given the weakness of the group, there’s not too much standing in Bowman’s way. It’s also possible the Twins sell off some arms ahead of the deadline, though they are currently playing well enough to be within a game and a half of a playoff spot, so that might only happen if they hit a bad stretch this month.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
