American baseball player and executive (born 1983)
Baseball player
Sowers during his tenure with the
Buffalo Bisons
, Triple-A affiliates of the
Cleveland Indians
, in 2008.
Jeremy Bryan Sowers
(born May 17, 1983) is an American former professional
baseball
pitcher
and current executive. He played in
Major League Baseball
(MLB) for the
Cleveland Indians
from 2006 to 2009, and is currently the manager of major league operations for the
Tampa Bay Rays
.
Sowers grew up in
Louisville, Kentucky
, where he attended
Ballard High School
. His
twin
brother, Joshua Sowers, formerly played in the
Toronto Blue Jays
organization. Sowers' pitching repertoire featured a
fastball
with which he varied the speed between about 85 and 92 mph, a
curveball
, a
slider
that cuts in on
right-handed
batters, and a
changeup
.
[1]
High school and college
[
edit
]
Sowers threw four
no-hitters
in high school. In both his junior and his senior year at Ballard, he led the team to consecutive appearances in the state high school championship game and was named All-State, All-Section, All-Region and County Player of the Year. As a senior, he was named to
Baseball America
's National High School All-American team, Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year, Mr. Kentucky Baseball and Kentucky High School Coaches Association Athlete of the Year.
[2]
He was selected out of high school with the 20th overall pick in the
2001 Major League Baseball Draft
by the
Cincinnati Reds
.
Rather than sign with the Reds, Sowers chose to attend
Vanderbilt University
where he was named to the
Louisville Slugger
Freshman All-American team following the
2002
season
[3]
and to their
2004
pre-season
All-American
team.
[4]
He was second team All-
SEC
as both a sophomore
[5]
and a junior
[6]
and was also selected second team All-South Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association as a sophomore.
[7]
In 2002 and 2003, Sowers played
collegiate summer baseball
for the
Wareham Gatemen
of the
Cape Cod Baseball League
(CCBL). A league all-star in 2003, he posted a 1.20 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 67.1 innings. Sowers was inducted into the
CCBL Hall of Fame
in 2017.
[8]
[9]
[10]
After his junior year at Vanderbilt, the Indians selected Sowers with the 6th overall pick in the
2004 Major League Baseball Draft
and he signed with them for a $2.475 million signing bonus, the third highest bonus in club history.
[11]
During the 2005?06 offseason, he was granted permission by the club to return to Vanderbilt to complete his political science degree.
Minor leagues
[
edit
]
Sowers split most of the
2005
season between the Indians' Single-A (
Kinston
) and Double-A (
Akron
)
farm teams
, compiling a combined 13?4 record and 2.40
ERA
. He finished 2005 with a single start for the Triple-A
Buffalo Bisons
in which he was credited with a
win
. He was named the Indians Minor League Pitcher of the Year (
Bob Feller
Award) for the 2005 season.
[12]
Baseball America
named him the #2 prospect in the Indians organization,
[13]
the #6 prospect in the
Carolina League
[14]
and the #8 prospect in the
Eastern League
.
[15]
He was named the Indians' 2005 Minor League Player of the Year (receiving the "
Lou Boudreau
Award").
[16]
In
2006
, he was a
non-roster invitee
at the Indians'
spring training
, but did not make the club's
Opening Day
roster, beginning the season with Buffalo. In 15 starts for the Bisons, he picked up where he left off in 2005, posting a sterling 9?1 record and 1.39 ERA.
Baseball America
named him the #3 prospect in the
International League
.
[17]
Major leagues
[
edit
]
Cleveland Indians
[
edit
]
Sowers' performance for Buffalo in 2006 earned him a promotion to Cleveland on June 20 where he made his major league debut against the Reds on June 25, taking the
loss
(5
IP
, 4
ERs
, 5
Hs
, 2
HRs
, 3
SOs
, 2
BBs
). He tossed his first major league
complete game
shutout
on July 22,
2006
, against the
Minnesota Twins
, allowing 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4. Six days later, he threw another shutout?this one a 1?0 game against the
Seattle Mariners
?becoming the first Indians rookie to throw back-to-back shutouts since
Dick Tidrow
in
1972
.
[18]
In his next start against
Boston
, he extended his scoreless inning streak to 22 before yielding an
RBI
double
in the fifth inning.
Sowers was projected to be the Indians' fourth starter in
2007
.
[19]
When
Cliff Lee
was injured during spring training, Sowers was bumped up to the third spot in the starting rotation. However, he struggled through the first two months of the season (1?6, 6.93 ERA in 12 starts) and was demoted to Buffalo on June 10.
[20]
During
spring training
in 2009, Sowers competed for the fifth starting pitcher slot; he was not selected and was sent down to the
Triple-A
Columbus Clippers
.
[21]
On March 31, 2010, after failing to secure a spot in the major league starting rotation, Sowers was sent outright to Triple-A Columbus and removed from the Indians' 40-man roster. Suffering with a sore shoulder for most of the season, Sowers was finally placed on the disabled list on August 14, 2010, and did not play for the remainder of the 2010 season.
[22]
He became a free agent on November 2, 2011.
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
[
edit
]
On April 17, 2013, After sitting out the 2012 season, Sowers signed with the
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
of the
Atlantic League of Professional Baseball
.
[23]
He announced his retirement on June 1.
[24]
In 8 starts 44 innings he went 1?3 with a 4.30 ERA and 25 strikeouts.
Post playing career
[
edit
]
After playing Independent baseball he earned his MBA and worked corporate strategy for Wal-Mart before returning to baseball with the
Baltimore Orioles
.
He served as an assistant in the
Tampa Bay Rays
baseball operation department. In February 2020, when
James Click
left the Rays to become the general manager of the
Houston Astros
, Sowers was promoted to manager of major league operations.
[25]
Sowers and his wife, Ashley, have two daughters.
[26]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Kline, Chris (March 30, 2005).
"Sowers shows consistency for Indians"
.
Baseball America
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"2006 Cleveland Indians Media Guide"
(PDF)
. pp. 239?240
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team"
. Collegiate Baseball. June 5, 2002
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"Louisville Slugger pre-season All-American baseball teams"
. Collegiate Baseball. December 19, 2003
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"Hill, Marchbanks, Laval, Head Earn SEC Baseball Honors"
. SECSports.com. May 19, 2003. Archived from
the original
on September 27, 2007
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"SEBaseball.com Announces 2004 All-SEC Team"
. SECSports.com. May 18, 2004. Archived from
the original
on September 30, 2007
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"2004 ABCA & Rawlings NCAA Division I All-Region"
. American Baseball Coaches Association. Archived from
the original
on July 20, 2011
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"2002 Wareham Gatemen"
. thebaseballcube.com
. Retrieved
September 23,
2021
.
- ^
"2003 Wareham Gatemen"
. thebaseballcube.com
. Retrieved
September 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Eight Former Greats to Enter Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame"
. capecodbaseball.org
. Retrieved
August 11,
2019
.
- ^
Kline, Chris (November 22, 2004).
"Top Ten Prospects: Cleveland Indians"
.
Baseball America
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
Castrovince, Anthony (December 8, 2005).
"Tribe honors Minors' Mulhern, Sowers"
.
MLB.com
. Archived from
the original
on May 19, 2011
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
Kline, Chris (January 23, 2006).
"Top Ten Prospects: Cleveland Indians"
.
Baseball America
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
Kline, Chris (September 29, 2005).
"2005 Top 20 Prospects: Carolina League"
.
Baseball America
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
Matthews, Alan (October 3, 2005).
"2005 Top 20 Prospects: Eastern League"
.
Baseball America
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"Minor League Player of the Year by Team"
. The Baseball Cube. Archived from
the original
on October 16, 2011
. Retrieved
July 25,
2011
.
- ^
Eddy, Matt (October 11, 2006).
"International League Top 20 Prospects List"
.
Baseball America
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
"Indians' Sowers pitches second consecutive shutout in 1?0 win"
.
Associated Press
. July 28, 2006. Archived from
the original
on August 27, 2006
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
Castrovince, Anthony (February 2, 2007).
"Indians Spring Training quick hits"
.
MLB.com
. Archived from
the original
on February 12, 2007
. Retrieved
March 12,
2007
.
- ^
Castrovince, Anthony (June 10, 2007).
"Sowers sent to Triple-A"
.
MLB.com
. Archived from
the original
on June 16, 2007
. Retrieved
June 13,
2007
.
- ^
Indians Send Sowers, 6 Others to Minors
NY Times, March 24, 2009
- ^
Massie, Jim (August 29, 2010).
"Clippers leading Indianapolis"
. Columbus Dispatch. Archived from
the original
on August 22, 2011
. Retrieved
September 26,
2010
.
- ^
https://pointstreak.com/baseball/team_transactions.html?teamid=3608&seasonid=21966
- ^
https://pointstreak.com/baseball/team_transactions.html?teamid=3608&seasonid=21966
- ^
Topkin, Marc.
"How the Rays will replace Astros-bound James Click"
.
Tampa Bay Times
. Retrieved
February 5,
2020
.
- ^
"Rays' scout Sowers thrilled to be back in baseball | TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune"
.
www.tbo.com
. Archived from
the original
on 2016-04-20.
External links
[
edit
]
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