John Bowker (baseball)
| John Bowker | |
|---|---|
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| San Francisco Giants — No. 20 | |
| First baseman / Outfielder | |
| Born: July 8, 1983 Sacramento, California | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| MLB debut | |
| April 12, 2008 for the San Francisco Giants | |
| Career statistics (through November 1 , 2009) | |
| Batting average | .244 |
| Home runs | 12 |
| Runs batted in | 50 |
| Teams | |
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John B. Bowker (born July 8, 1983 in Sacramento, California) is a Major League Baseball corner outfielder and first baseman for the San Francisco Giants. He bats and throws left-handed.
Prior to playing professional baseball, Bowker played for Arden Little League as a Giant, and was named an All Star in the "Major League" Division in 1994 along with future high school stars Jeff Geremia and Rafael Bergstrom, who went on to play professional baseball in Europe. Bowker attended Rio Americano High School in Sacramento playing under Coach Martin Whitley, who preached the timeless mantra of "play hard, play smart, play catch." Bowker was named All- League in 3 sports after lettering 3 years in baseball, 2 seasons in football and 1 in basketball. He established school single-season records for batting average (.463) hits (41), Home runs (8) and RBI (41). He spent two years at Long Beach State University, before entering draft following his sophomore campaign. Batting .323 over that time, he was named to the 1st Team All-Big West after leading the LBSU 49ers to the NCAA Super Regionals in 2004. Bowker also hit the 47th Splash Hit at AT&T Park.
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Minor League career
Originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the third round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, Bowker signed and began his professional career that very same year. Between time spent with the AZL Giants and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, he played in 41 games, collecting 63 hits in 170 at-bats for a .371 batting average. Former Salem-Keizer manager Walt Weiss famously told the Daily Oregonian, "Some players give 110 percent only 50 percent of the time. Bowker gives 110 percent 110 percent of time." With the AZL Giants, he hit .512 in 43 at-bats.
He spent the 2005 season with the High Single-A San Jose Giants. In 121 games, he hit 22 doubles, one triple, and 13 home runs en route to a .267 batting average. In 2006, he split time between San Jose and the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies. Combined, he hit .285 in 114 games.
Bowker spent all of 2007 with the Connecticut Defenders, the Giants' Double-A affiliate. In 139 games, he hit .307 with a career highs in home runs (22), RBI (90), doubles (35), and triples (6). Overall, he has hit .296 with 48 home runs and 250 RBI in 104 minor league games.
Major League career
On April 12, 2008, Bowker made his Major League debut. He was told late the night before to report to the Giants and left Fresno at 5:30 a.m. the next morning, having slept only 3 hours.[1] Inserted into the starting lineup, he singled and hit a three-run home run, becoming the eighth player in San Francisco Giants history to hit a home run in his first game.[2] The next day, Bowker hit his second home run, off Joel Piñeiro, to become the first player in San Francisco Giants history to hit a home run in each of his first two Major League games.[3] On July 2, 2008, Bowker hit a "Splash Hit" home run into McCovey Cove. Nonetheless, on August 13, he was sent back down to Triple-A Fresno due to a lack of offensive production. He was recalled to the Giants after rosters expanded in September.
Bowker was again called up to the Giants on July 9, 2009.[4]
On January 19, 2010, KNBR's Tom Tolbert compared Bowker to Bull Durham character "Crash" Davis, a veteran minor league slugger, after Bowker won the MiLBY award as the top Triple-A hitter in 2009, but hit just .194 in 67 Major League at-bats.
References
- ^ Ratto, Ray (2008-04-13). "Bowker's big debut the best part of the day". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/12/SPCA104OHO.DTL. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ Shea, John (2008-04-13). "Another crusher for Cain". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/12/SPCA104OHM.DTL. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ "Giants' call-up owns HR record=Shulman". The San Francisco Chronicle. 2008-04-14. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/14/SPFO10508F.DTL. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
- ^ Casolo, Joe (2009-07-09). rreport.com/articles/215179-giants-john-bowker-gets-call-up-sadowski-sent-down-to-san-jose "John Bowker Called Up to San Francisco, Ryan Sadowski Send Down to San Jose". Bleacher Report. http://bleache rreport.com/articles/215179-giants-john-bowker-gets-call-up-sadowski-sent-down-to-san-jose. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)