There isn’t much that Jase Bowen can’t do when he’s on the baseball field. Since turning pro, the 2019 11th round pick has played every position except shortstop and catcher, and has been very versatile offensively as well.
What he may have done the best has hit the ball — really, really hard for that matter.
The Florida State League is one of the few to have pitch tracking available through Baseball Savant, so we were able to get an idea at just how hard some of the players were hitting the ball last year.
Bowen played in 98 games for the Marauders in 2022 before getting promoted, and although he didn’t finish the season with them, still led the team in home runs (14) and RBI (66), while finishing in the top three in hits (102), stolen bases (20) and extra-base hits (33).
The added power really wasn’t a surprise once you saw just how hard he was hitting the baseball.
| Jase Bowen | Major League Average | |
| 88.4 mph | Exit Velocity | 88.4 mph |
| 11.69° | Launch Angle | 12.1° |
| 6.47% | Barrel% | 6.75 |
| 3.83% | Barrels/Plate Appearance | 4.6% |
| 32% | Sweet Spot% | 33% |
| 38.8% | Hard Hit% | 35.8% |
When it comes to some of the base hitting analytics, Bowen is already hitting at, or better than what the average is at the major league level.
Bowen had 247 batted ball events last year in Bradenton that we were able to track, and almost 100 of them (97) had an exit velocity of at least 95 mph. One thing that I’ve noticed with a lot of the Bradenton hitters this year is that there has been some decent EV, but not much when it comes to lift, limiting their power potential, and actually their odds of getting on base.
Exit velocity and launch angle isn’t the say all, be all, but there is merit in why it’s tracked so hard. Just using Bowen as an example, he hit .521 on batted balls when the exit velocity was 95 mph or higher – what is labeled as a ‘hard hit’.
Looking at the other side, when the EV is 94.9 or less, he has just a .343 average. That’s nearly a 200 point difference just when he makes solid contact on the ball. Over the course of the season, that’s quite a few extra hits, and that’s why it’s encouraging that he has a hard hit rate higher than what the major league average is.
Bowen was also incredibly efficient when hitting line drives, something he did 23.8% of the time while in Bradenton. What’s more eye popping about it was his average on those line drives.
On the 59 line drives he picked up with the Marauders (a batted ball event with a launch angle of 10° and 25°), he recorded a .790 average. Of the nearly 1,200 batted ball events I recorded from over 10 Bradenton players that was nearly 60 points higher than the overall average when it comes to line drive average.
After initially struggling in Greensboro upon his promotion, Bowen started to show off some of that power, finishing with eight total extra-base hits.
If you are looking for a player that can truly take advantage of the hitter friendly park that is First National Bank Field in 2023, Bowen might be at the very top of the list.
Highlight of the Day
Pirates Prospects Daily
By Tim Williams
**We had a new Discussion feature today, with Jeff Reed and Anthony Murphy being joined by NMR from the comments to break down the Pirates’ top 100 prospects.
**Missed yesterday? Anthony looked at Yohan Ramirez as a bullpen option for the 2023 Pirates.
Song of the Day
Pirates Prospects Weekly
Our new Discussion feature had Jeff Reed, Anthony Murphy, and NMR discussing the Pirates on the top 100 prospect lists.
Pirates Discussion: The Pirates on the Top 100 Prospect Lists
John Dreker will have the latest Pirates Winter Report on Saturday.
