It’s hard to comprehend just how improbable the journey has been.
Consider for a moment that the chances of a high school player getting drafted by a major league team are about 0.5 percent. Play in college and become draft-eligible, and your chances of being drafted are still below 10 percent.
Kaleb Bowman didn’t get drafted in high school or college, yet three years and three continents later, the baseball odyssey of the App State alum has led to him signing a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
“I've never heard of this journey — ever,” App State head coach Kermit Smith said. “This is literally the most difficult journey to affiliated baseball I've ever seen.”
There are many facets to this story: hard work, patience, confidence, sacrifice, faith, and the unique ability to channel every setback and disappointment into an opportunity.
Growing up in Texas, he picked up a baseball for the first time at 4 years old and fell in love with the game. Whenever he was assigned a paper to write in school, it was about growing up and playing Major League Baseball.
The son of a wrestler — his father made it to the Olympic trials — Bowman not only understood what he wanted to do, but also the work that it was going to take to get there.
A talented high school pitcher, Bowman landed a scholarship offer to South Carolina after his freshman season. He injured his arm as a junior, and just like that, his scholarship was pulled. He elected to go the junior college route and began his collegiate career at Spartanburg Methodist College. There, he was able to fully commit his energy toward baseball and get back to pitching at an elite level.
On the recruiting trail, Smith saw Bowman throw a bullpen in the early fall before his sophomore season with Spartanburg. The App State coach extended an offer the following week, and prior to Thanksgiving break, Bowman made his first visit to Boone.
“I was like, I mean, App State is for me, man. I don't know what it is about this place, but it just embraces you,” Bowman said. “And I was absolutely right. I love that place.”
Smith’s faith made a significant impact on Bowman, whose father is a pastor. Combine that with the beauty in the mountains and the atmosphere on campus, and the decision was an easy one. He signed early, putting his mind at ease during his sophomore season that the following year he would be wearing the block A.
Bowman quickly settled into his role with the Mountaineers, pitching in the back end of the bullpen.
“I like to say I have a bullpen mentality,” he said. “I love it because it’s usually tighter games, you’re pitching in higher leverage situations … just the higher intensity pitches.”
In reflecting on his time with the Mountaineers, the development that Bowman remembers most was not mechanical, but mental – a mindset, with the techniques and tools to make the wheels churn.
“We did a lot on the mental side,” Bowman recalled. “A lot of mental prep, just like breathing drills and stuff like that.
“They taught me how to be my own self, my own pitcher. ‘You’re good being Kaleb Bowman; you’re not good at being someone else.’ And they really embraced that and helped me learn that I’m Kaleb Bowman on the mound. I’m not anyone else.”
For pitching coach Justin Aspegren, Bowman embodied the phrase, “You get out what you put in.”
“He’s a very talented individual,” Aspegren said. “He was one of those guys that did everything right. We worked together to build a throwing program, and he executed it to the best of his ability.”
Bowman’s confidence, commitment, and faith were all characteristics that made an impression on his coaches and teammates alike.
“Just going out there and competing against whoever, it didn’t matter who was in the box,” fellow pitcher and 2019 teammate Jack Hartman, now a member of the Tampa Bay Rays’ organization, said years ago. “Kaleb really didn’t care who was in the box. He was just going to go with the plan, and at the end he usually got pretty excited.”
What separated Bowman from his peers was a commitment to simplicity. Aspegren contrasts him with so many young pitchers who often push to implement new pitches, change their leg kick, or alter their mechanics.
“He just kind of kept sharpening his sword and sharpening his sword,” Aspegren said. “He didn't try to do too much with what he had, or what he didn't have, which is a really cool quality. He’s an amazing dude, good work ethic, super fun to be around, mega competitor. He had all those intangibles.”
His sword was especially sharp in 2019, when he led the Sun Belt with a 3.05 ERA his senior season. In 27 outings, he went 6-2 with four saves and struck out 52 batters in 62 innings.
Bowman was hopeful that a successful senior campaign would result in his name being called on draft day. He had been talking to a few organizations that showed interest, but the three-day draft rolled by and his phone never rang. One area scout for the Seattle Mariners pushed for Bowman to be a free-agent signing, but that never quite panned out, either.
“I’m not ready to be done with baseball,” Bowman remembers thinking.
Aspegren put feelers out in the Independent Frontier League, but Bowman’s interest really peaked when a friend told him about a website called Baseball Jobs Overseas. He created a profile for $100, and teams immediately began reaching out. His first landing spot was in Canada in the summer of 2019, and then he made his way to Australia when the seasons changed.
“I learned that baseball overseas is a little different,” Bowman said. “You're playing on weekends; you don't play during a week. Everyone's working 9-to-5 jobs and then they go play on the weekend because they love it. And that's where I really think I relearned to love the game. I've never been one to walk away or anything like that, but I really, truly learned to love the game.”
Bowman was no exception to baseball being a second job. During the week, he worked at his host family’s cabin shop. He would begin his shifts early in the morning so that by mid-day he was able to go work out, keeping his arm ready for his games on the weekends. Often times, he did so by just throwing into a net.
Perhaps what makes Bowman’s journey so remarkable is how much of his improvement was self-taught. Not only did he not have the luxury of a throwing partner, he often didn’t have a coach, either. He did remote work with Tread Athletics in Charlotte, where he was mentored by Tyler Zombro of the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
“It was sometimes lonely days and lonely nights,” Bowman said. “There's no one to push you. There's no one to compete with you. So, you're just trusting your process.”
COVID could have exacerbated that sort of isolation, but like every other setback for Bowman, it instead created an opportunity.
He had been playing baseball non-stop since his junior year of college. One season fading into the next, with little time to reflect or recharge.
Bowman remained in Australia until June of 2020 and took advantage of having some time to explore the country. When he returned to the United States, he focused on training and was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to sign with a baseball team in Regensburg, Germany.
It was his third continent in less than two years, but Regensburg had all the resources he would need to hone his craft.
Bowman lived in an apartment complex adjacent to the field. He had full access to a weight room and an indoor practice facility. He also had a pitching coach, Devon Ramirez, who was there every step of the way.
When the season rolled around, Bowman was dominant in the German Bundesliga South, winning Pitcher of the Year. He led the league in ERA, lowest batting average against, and WHIP. He ranked in the top three in wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched.
Once he returned stateside, his goal was to use the 2021 season to springboard his growth and set up a pro day to show scouts his capabilities. He had added a few mph on his fastball and moved from the first-base side of the rubber to the third-base side, creating a tougher angle for hitters to face his three-quarter delivery.
Unfortunately, his pro day got canceled. Initially he was gutted, but as is customary for Bowman, he began to pray, reflect, and center himself.
“OK, my pro day got canceled, but our season starts in a month,” Bowman recalls thinking. “We have spring training in Italy in two weeks. There’s nothing bad in my life. I’m so blessed.”
For the majority of his career, Bowman’s priority had been his arm, but leading into the 2022 season, it became his body and nutrition.
His roommate was trying to lose a few pounds before the start of the season, and Bowman decided to join in on the workout plan. Bowman cleaned up his diet and lost about 15 pounds. The results translated to adding a couple more ticks on the radar gun.
“I reaped the benefits from just eating healthy again,” Bowman said. “Everyone talks about training in the weight room, training on the field, but it's like training in the kitchen is important, too. So, I really started fully buying into myself.”
The buy-in paid dividends.
Bowman put forth another dominant season with Regensburg, allowing just six earned runs in 66.2 innings. He led the league with a 0.81 ERA while striking out a league-best 105 batters and walking just 10. In his first playoff outing, Bowman delivered seven scoreless innings, striking out seven, to earn the win. Bowman continued to add velocity on his fastball, upping it to 95 mph.
Bowman also continued to work with analytics. He learned that with multiple arm slots, not only was he deceptive, he possessed a fastball with a lot of run (movement in on right-handed hitters), and a slider that mirrored that by sweeping away. He hoped that these improvements would lead to a major league team calling. And while there was interest at various times throughout the summer, nothing ever materialized.
That changed once the season ended.
Call it a shot in the dark. A last-ditch effort. Bowman edited together some highlights from his season and posted them on Twitter along with his stats from the season, hoping the right person might come across them.
Back in the United States, Brady Salisbury had just returned from a road trip with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Independent Atlantic League. His team was looking to make a playoff push, but between injuries and player signings, he was in need of a few pitchers.
That night, he logged onto Twitter at the right time. A long-haired, side-arming right-hander from Germany caught his eye. As an assistant general manager, Salisbury sees plenty of video of guys trying to get noticed, but there was plenty that separated Bowman from that pack.
“I liked the arm action; I loved the funkiness,” Salisbury said. “He likes to change the delivery, which you don't see very often. To me, that's usually a pretty good sign of a guy that knows what he's doing and likes to mess with timing. So right away I was pretty intrigued by that.”
It was enough to earn Bowman a contract.
In the blink of an eye, Bowman went from being the ace of the Regensburg rotation to a cog in the Gastonia bullpen. The Honey Hunters had a veteran staff. Most had played several seasons of affiliated baseball, and some, like Zach Godley, had already enjoyed a successful major league career.
“I learned so much more there in a month with those guys than I have in the last two years with trying to learn it myself,” Bowman said.
He made six appearances in Gastonia, striking out 10 in seven innings while allowing just one run.
A few outings in, Salisbury tapped him on the shoulder before a game and summoned him to the manager’s office. Bowman knew that the playoffs were approaching and the team had to trim down its roster. He figured that, as one of the newer additions, he was being cut loose.
Instead, manager Mauro “Goose” Gozzo handed him a slip of paper with a phone number on it. The Milwaukee Brewers were interested in getting ahold of him.
Bowman was intrigued, but he assumed it was just light interest. He’d been down this road before: a draft call that never arrived, a pro day canceled, inquiries that never came to fruition. He picked up the phone and dialed the number.
“Hey, man, how would you like to be a Milwaukee Brewer?” the voice on the other end asked.
Bowman had little hesitation in answering. The Brewers organization gave him the go-ahead to finish out the playoffs with Gastonia. Then, he was off to Arizona for a physical. On Oct. 2, when Bowman signed his contract with Milwaukee, it became official.
This is by no means the end of Bowman’s journey. Rather, it’s the beginning of a new chapter.
As for the last few years, he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I've snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef,” Bowman said. “I've been bitten by a poisonous spider in Australia. I've been to eight, nine different countries in a week in Europe. There's been hours of sacrifice in working by myself, throwing into a net and not having a partner. You found ways to work and just to do everything that you could. And I'm so grateful and thankful.”
Bowman became the fourth pitcher in Smith’s six seasons to sign a pro contract, joining Hartman (2020), Colin Schmid (2018), and Matt Brill (2017).
“I have just an overwhelming sense of happiness for him,” Smith said. “Just to know that he put all that in and gets to begin a journey in affiliated baseball. I was just really, really happy for him.”
Down the road in Gastonia, Bowman also made his mark despite spending only a month with the organization.
“We had six or seven guys picked up this year, and him getting picked up was one of my favorites, just in the sense that he was so deserving,” Salisbury said. “Just the kind of guy he was in the clubhouse, on the field, just setting an example, you really couldn't beat it.”
Bowman will head to spring training with the Brewers in February. He doesn’t yet know what affiliate he’ll ultimately join, or what his role will be on the team. But he knows he’s got a chance.
An opportunity to write a storybook ending to the journey of a lifetime.
Photos Courtesy of Kaleb Bowman and App State Athletics
Credits:
Photos courtesy of Kaleb Bowman and App State Athletics