The Pittsburgh Pirates have traded John Bowker to the Philadelphia Phillies, according to Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly. No word on the return, or if there is a return at all. The Phillies are expected to add Bowker to the 25-man roster. Since he was not on the 40-man roster, he didn’t have to go through waivers to be traded.
He was originally acquired in 2010 along with Joe Martinez in exchange for Javier Lopez. After hitting for a .235/.316/.294 lie in 17 at-bats this year, he was designated for assignment, and outrighted to AAA. He has since hit for a .308/.351/.487 line in 415 at-bats for Indianapolis, with 15 homers.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Our front office is retarded sometimes. Given the lack of power in our system and the fact that he’s never really been given a shot really ticks me off. For guys like him and Hague to not get a shot to perform, especially considering how our major league team has hit this season is atrocious, egregious and just plain stupid.
Think they’ll give the pirates a top ten prospect player in return??? 😉
Doubt Bowker would have returned to the Pirates in ’12. He’s getting another shot to prove he can play in the bigs. He’s a ‘tweener but might do well in the midst of a good line-up. Odd that his 2 shots at MLB have been with light hitting teams and now he goes to Philly. I wish him well and hope he hits a ton.
I always liked Bowker and thought he did a good job at pinch hitting. I would’ve rather have seen him come off the bench than X “auto out” Paul.
because we have so many players that can hit for power… why not let him compete for a spot in the OF/1B mix next season? are we trying to field a track team and have 7 or 8 guys on the field that can run olympic level 40’s but none that can hit the ball 400 feet?