Jase Bowen’s offseason started with an emergency appendectomy the first day he arrived in the Dominican for a camp the Pittsburgh Pirates were having. The 2019 11th rounder had to face all these trials with the heart of a lion.
“This offseason was full of ups and downs,” Bowen said. “The surgery really sucked, but it helped me find myself mentally and forced me to work on my mental game and adjust the way I think about the game and this profession. When I was finally able to get going, I started to make strides and fond myself in situations that made me better as a player.”
It’s funny; a person could make strides that seem incomprehensible and better themselves both as an individual and a player and still have doubters. Bowen fits the aforementioned statement, but he doesn’t let that stop him.
“My whole life, I’ve had people not believe in me, I know this especially true now,” said Bowen. “I’m extremely excited to show the doubters what I can do and prove a ton of people wrong this year.”
One of the ways Bowen can prove his doubters wrong is by controlling what he can control. Bowen laid out a plan to face the doubters and the uphill battle he knows he faces against the more known prospects.
“My mentality this year is to not get wrapped up in the noise,” said Bowen. “I need to control what I can control and let my play talk. I want to prove myself this year and show this organization how much I can mean to them.”
With all of the mentality talk, the conversation then shifted towards the physical aspect of playing. One of Bowen’s lesser talked about aspects has been his defense and versatility at playing multiple positions in the field.
“For me, it’s just about being as versatile as possible in the field,” Bowen mentioned. “Having the ability to play every position is huge for me, and I think I’ve made great strides in the infield. I’m continuing to improve in the outfield. So far this spring, I’ve played every position except catcher and pitcher so anything to get me in the lineup is great.”
Bowen played his first full season of pro ball in 2021, showing some power potential mixed with some swing and miss issues. He hit .220/.309/.384 with 14 home runs in Low-A Bradenton.
This Spring, Bowen has been tearing the cover off of the ball early on. Bowen has had 108, 106, 106, and 105 MPH in terms of exit velocity numbers.
This is a video of Jase Bowen from today. He hit an absolute rocket for yet another homer. Don’t have the distance on this but it had an exit velo of 106. This adds to his impressive exit velos of 108, 105, and another 106. Thanks for the vid @Jase_bowen32
“With the EVs, I think it comes down to the work I put in the off-season making swing adjustments and freeing up myself to move my body properly,” said Bowen. “I’ve also worked on swinging at the right pitches and by getting ahead in the count it has made it really easy to hit the pitches I want to hit.”
With a strengthened mental approach, and work on his body movements, Bowen laid out his goals for the upcoming season.
“This year, I want it to be an all-around great year but I especially want to see strides at the plate by swinging at strikes and doing the damage I know I can do,” Bowen said.
