Around the Curve | Bowen’s Bat Heats Up With Summer Weather
One may think that for a baseball player born in Ohio that the cold weather wouldn’t bother them. But for Curve outfielder Jase Bowen, as the calendar has flipped to the month of June he has found his stride at the plate and become one of the Curve’s best hitters.
One may think that for a baseball player born in Ohio that the cold weather wouldn’t bother them. But for Curve outfielder Jase Bowen, as the calendar has flipped to the month of June he has found his stride at the plate and become one of the Curve’s best hitters. With hits in 10-of-12 games to start the calendar month, Bowen is showing signs of capitalizing on his potential at the plate. A development he attributes to trusting the process of the information and instruction he’s received from Curve Hitting Coach Brady Conlan.
“I’m competing the best I can these days and trusting the reports of what pitchers want to do,” Bowen shared from the visiting dugout in Richmond earlier this month. “I’m looking for certain pitches and trying to get my “A-Swing” off and just trusting how important it is to be present in the moment.”
Jase was drafted in the 10th round in 2019 out of Toledo Central Catholic High School and signed with the Pirates rather than following through on a commitment to play baseball and football at Michigan State. Finally free from the chilly temperatures that dominate the first two months of play in the Eastern League, Bowen is embracing the challenge of a long season.
“It’s easy to get wrapped up in results here knowing how close you are to the big leagues. But I’m just trying to stay present and I’m thankful for the group of guys we have here in this clubhouse. Guys like Dustin Peterson and Seth Beer and Joe Perez, they’ve all been to the big leagues and been through it,” Bowen shared. “It’s about asking questions of those guys in certain situations, they’ve been through good and bad, won championships and talking to them about a stretch where you not playing well; that’s been valuable. It’s not always verbal, watching them go about their business and not dwelling on good or bad results has been a helpful lesson for me this season.”
Even though the Curve will finish at the bottom of the Southwest Division of the first half, Bowen feels like this group of teammates is still quite close to success in the second half. “We have a close-knit group, we’ve played a lot of close games, but that’s just baseball, you gotta keep a high head and have fun.”
With a .273 average through his first 13 games in the month of June, Bowen’s performance has helped the team get back on track. Not only has his bat started to perk up, but Bowen has remained a consistently quality outfielder for the Curve. Just this past week in Bowie he made several running catches that saved runs for his pitchers on the mound.
As the second half of the season commences this week against the Akron RubberDucks, the Curve start with a clean slate in terms of record and Bowen’s progress gives the team plenty of reason for optimism.
*This story was printed in Volume 25 Issue 6 of the Curve Chronicle for the June 25-30 homestand.*