Matt Bowman Elects Free Agency

Reliever Matt Bowman has elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on Sunday, tweets Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. The right-hander, who turned 33 today, went unclaimed on outright waivers.

Bowman pitched in four games for Arizona, allowing six runs over 6 2/3 innings. The Snakes had acquired him from the Twins in a cash trade on May 2. Bowman had pitched five times for Minnesota as well. He allowed eight runs in 14 1/3 frames with 10 strikeouts and six walks between the two teams. That’s already the Princeton product’s heaviest MLB workload since 2019.

Injuries essentially robbed Bowman of the 2020-22 seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in the ’20 campaign and didn’t return to full health until last season. Bowman spent most of last year in Triple-A with the Yankees, turning in a 3.99 ERA with a decent 22.6% strikeout rate and a strong 51.9% grounder percentage over 58 2/3 innings. New York briefly called him to the majors last fall but cut him loose at season’s end.

Bowman signed with Minnesota on a non-roster contract and again pitched well in Triple-A. He didn’t allow an earned run over his six innings, leading the Twins to call him up during the second week of April. Bowman is out of options, so Minnesota couldn’t send him back to the minors once they added him to their 40-man roster. That led to his trade to Arizona, but Bowman struggled in his limited time in the desert. Based on his recent Triple-A production, he shouldn’t have any problem finding a new minor league deal now that he’s back on the open market.