Reading the article on him makes me think Butch Thompson changed his mechanics and that was his problem last year. Also the article stated he turned down the
Reds offer of $220,000 last year as a 38th rounder. Sounds like he would like to sign but I believe the Reds have backed off and he could return to Msu next
year. I'm hoping he can turn things around and find his mojo again cause we could really use his experience and his arm if he can get in the groove.
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 basedog
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Ricky Bowen.......... |
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Posts: 298 07/01/09 01:16 PM |
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8Dog |
Im going to just say I doubt... | #1 | ||
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Posts: 6600 07/01/09 01:28 PM Message Board Hero |
he got offered $220K in the 38th round.
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basedog |
Sounds like a lot to me but..... | #2 | ||
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Posts: 299 07/01/09 01:35 PM |
he stated it was a bonus offereing. You never know about pro baseball, pretty crazy money they throw around.
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8Dog |
They don't throw that kind of money around... | #3 | ||
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Posts: 6601 07/01/09 01:40 PM Message Board Hero |
in the 38th round. If you look at the numbers from 2008, that's outlandish.
Edit: much to my surprise, the Reds actually signed a guy for 500K and a guy for 250K in the 30s. Crazy considering several guys ahead of them got $1K. Must have been seniors in college.
Last Edited By: 8Dog 07/01/09 03:19 PM.
Edited 2 times.
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Todd4State |
Having watched him pitch | #4 | ||
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Posts: 5531 07/01/09 03:15 PM |
I think his problem was he was trying to hard to strike everyone out very early in the season, and he started to get a lot of walks and he wasn't pacing
himself the way he needed to. I think he knew that we didn't have much, and was being counted on being the ace of the staff and simply tried way too hard.
By the time I saw him pitching on the Gov Cup, he was a complete trainwreck. He wasn't repeating his mechanics at all. I think he invented an arm angle that I certainly had never seen before. I think most of his problem was mental. I guess he can go onto the anxiety disorder scrap heap with Grienke, Dontrelle Willis, and Khalil Greene. "Because just being good kids who make good grades isn't good enough anymore."- John Cohen
"This league doesn't care how hard you try. This league cares about having real players who can perform certain skills. If you try to throw a fastball in and you miss the middle of the plate, the league doesn't care that you're a really good kid. The game says you better execute the pitch." - John Cohen |
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basedog |
Here is most of the article..... | #5 | ||
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Posts: 300 07/01/09 04:11 PM |
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A year ago, Bowen became the first Sumiton Christian graduate to be drafted in any professional sport, taken by the Cincinnati Reds in the 38th round as a pitcher out of Mississippi State. Earlier this month, Bowen was drafted again by the Reds - four rounds later than he was in 2008. The Reds nearly had him last year, throwing an un-38th round like offer of $220,000 as a signing bonus to the redshirt sophomore with a 94 mph fastball and a MSU-leading 64 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings. That summer, he threw for Bourne in the Cape Cod league and had a respectable 3-3 record with a 3.53 ERA, 46 hits, 46 strikeouts and 14 walks. But after discussing things with his adviser, he opted not to take the Reds' offer and return to MSU for his junior year. After all, they said, he had two more years left and "I'd be crazy to think I wouldn't be looking at more money," said Bowen. He wound up looking for what made him a great pitcher. "He was a Louisville Slugger All-American his freshman year," said his high school coach Lance Blair. "He didn't get drafted out of high school because he told anyone who asked that he wanted to go to Mississippi State. He could have been, but he wasn't interested." That was the Mississippi State under Ron Polk, who resigned at the end of the 2008 season. In came Mississippi State under John Cohen and pitching coach Butch Thompson. "My mechanics were changed and the best thing I can say is that things weren't right with my delivery," said Bowen. "I started trying to find things to make it right, hunting something to correct and not throwing at all like before. We tweaked to find an answer and lost my identity." Bowen finished with an 8.44 ERA and 2-3 record in just 11 appearances and 32 walks with 25 hits and 25 strikeouts. But by the end of the season, he started to get his groove back. "I looked at video of what I did before and started to figure out how I felt," said Bowen. "I started to talk to people like (former New York Yankees pitching coach) Sam Ellis, Ed Marco (his pitching coach in 2008 with Bourne) and (former Jacksonville State pitching coach) Shane Kelley." Ironically, he didn't get the groove back until he started throwing the day after he was hit with the foul ball. "After that, stuff started to click," said Bowen. "The stride felt good, the ball came out of the hand good. Everything came out right." But the stay proved to be short. Bowen was one of the last players on the Braves - having to convince management to add him as a temporary player - and one of the first to go when players showed up from Team USA tryouts or those whose college teams had extended postseasons. This week, he's still in Massachusetts, hoping to catch on with another Cape Cod team; if not, the New England Collegiate Baseball League is another possibility. He hopes the progress he's made in recent weeks continues and his next step with be in the Reds' farm system. If not, he has one more year at Mississippi State. "I have no regrets about not taking their offer," said Bowen. "I look at it as the Lord had a lesson for me to learn and there was a purpose
for this. I might have ended up better financially, but that's not what it's about anyway."
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CuzDawg |
You know, I could buy the "changing mechanics" thing if | #6 | ||
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Posts: 986 07/01/09 06:47 PM Diamond Cutter |
he didn't have an ERA damn near 8.00 in Polk's last year.
As for pitching well in the Cape, unfortunately, that is not an indicator of how you will pitch during the college season. The Cape is a wood bat league and you can jam plenty of batters who aren't used to a) being pitched to inside and b) using a wooden bat. Add to that the fact Bowen was probably bringing it at 93, and you get the picture.
Last Edited By: CuzDawg 07/01/09 06:50 PM.
Edited 1 time.
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TBonewannabe |
Didn't he have great numbers in fall ball? | #7 | ||
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Posts: 715 07/02/09 05:26 AM |
Seems like that was the basis of Cohen saying that Bowen would need to eat up some innings. Did they change his mechanics before or after the fall? I think he just has mental issues and he is just looking for a physical reason. |
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maroonmania |
That was my thought... | #8 | ||
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Posts: 811 07/02/09 09:37 AM |
no doubt he had 3 or 4 nice outings in Polk's last year, but a pitcher doesn't end up with a near 7 ERA as a sophomore because he's got it all
together. Now I will admit that his control went out the window last year for whatever reason BUT he was by no means a top line pitcher before those problems.
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Quick Reply
Replies
| Ricky Bowen.......... | 07/01/09 01:16 PM | basedog |
| Im going to just say I doubt... | 07/01/09 01:28 PM | 8Dog |
| Sounds like a lot to me but..... | 07/01/09 01:35 PM | basedog |
| They don't throw that kind of money around... | 07/01/09 01:40 PM | 8Dog |
| Having watched him pitch | 07/01/09 03:15 PM | Todd4State |
| Here is most of the article..... | 07/01/09 04:11 PM | basedog |
| Didn't he have great numbers in fall ball? | 07/02/09 05:26 AM | TBonewannabe |
| You know, I could buy the "changing mechanics" thing if | 07/01/09 06:47 PM | CuzDawg |
| That was my thought... | 07/02/09 09:37 AM | maroonmania |
