John Brite Bowker (born July 8, 1983) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies and in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

and

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping ...

. Bowker stands tall and weighs ; he bats and throws

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

. Bowker was drafted out of Long Beach State University in the third round of the 2004 MLB draft by the San Francisco Giants. He spent the next few years in their minor league system and ranked among the Eastern League leaders in several hitting categories in 2007. He was called up by the Giants shortly after the 2008 season began, and he became the first San Francisco-era Giant to hit a home run in his first two major league games. He was the Giants' starting first baseman for much of the season and finished the year batting .255 with 10 home runs in 111 games. In 2009, Bowker won the Pacific Coast League batting title with a .342 average. However, he batted .194 in 31 major league games. He began 2010 as the Giants' right fielder but lost the job soon after the season started. He was optioned to Fresno in June and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline. Bowker was called up by the Pirates in September and finished the 2010 season batting .219 with 5 home runs in 67 games. He started the 2011 season as a reserve outfielder on the Pirates' team but was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the pla ...

and sent to the minors after April. He batted .306 with 15 home runs and 76 RBI in 106 games with their International League team before getting traded to the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of August. Used mainly as a pinch hitter, Bowker had no hits in 13 at-bats with Philadelphia. Following the season, he was released so he could sign with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan.

Early years

Bowker was born to Brite and Chris Bowker on July 8, 1983, in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. Growing up, he attended Mariemont Elementary School, Arden Middle School, and

Rio Americano High School Rio Americano High School, colloquially known as Rio, is a public high school in Arden-Arcade, California, just outside Sacramento, serving students in grades 9 through 12 as part of the San Juan Unified School District. Rio Americano students co ...

. He began his baseball career playing for an Arden Park

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationfootball and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. He decided to concentrate on baseball as a sophomore. He

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

three seasons in baseball, two seasons in football and one season in basketball in addition to being named all-league in each of these sports. He set Rio Americano's single-season records for

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.463) hits (41),

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s (8) and runs batted in (RBI) (41). After graduating from Rio Americano, Bowker enrolled at Long Beach State University. In 2004, he led the LBSU Dirtbags to the NCAA Super Regionals and was included on the 1st Team All-Big West. After batting .323 in his first two years at Long Beach, he entered the 2004 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft and was selected in the third round by the

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

2004–2007

To begin his minor league career, Bowker was assigned to the rookie-league

Arizona League Giants Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four C ...

. After batting .512 with 22 hits, 2 home runs, and 11 RBI in 10 games for the Giants, he was promoted to the

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their hom ...

of the

single-A Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for each ...

short season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cre ...

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

. With Salem-Keizer, he batted .323 with 41 hits, 4 home runs, and 16 RBI in 31 games. Between the AZL Giants and Salem-Keizer, he appeared in 41 games, batting .371 with 63 hits, 6 home runs, and 27 RBI in 41 games. In 2005, Bowker attended Giants' spring training but was sent to the minors on March 2. He spent the season with the single-A advanced

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants ga ...

. In 121 games, he had 124 hits, 27

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

s, 13 home runs, and 67 RBI while batting .267. He batted .238 with a double, a home run, and 4 RBI in 5 playoff games as San Jose won the California League championship. Bowker attended spring training with the Giants in 2006, but he was sent to the minors on March 2. He spent most of the season with San Jose, where he batted .284 with 131 hits, 6 triples, 7 home runs, and 66 RBI in 112 games. His 32 doubles ranked tenth overall in the league. In 5 playoff games, he batted .182 with 4 hits, 2 doubles, and 1 triple. He also appeared in two games for the triple-A

Fresno Grizzlies The Fresno Grizzlies are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They are located in Fresno, California, and play their home games at Chukchansi Park, which was opened in 2002 in d ...

of the Pacific Coast League, where he had two hits in four at bats. Bowker attended spring training with the Giants in 2007 but only appeared in two spring training games. He spent the entire season with the

Connecticut Defenders The Connecticut Defenders were a Minor League Baseball team based in Norwich, Connecticut. The team, which played in the Eastern League, was the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major-league club from 2003 until following the 2009 ...

, the Giants' double-A affiliate in the Eastern League. He set career highs with 139 games played, a .307 batting average, 160 hits, 22 home runs, 90 RBI, 35 doubles, and 6 triples. He ranked seventh in the league in batting average (among qualifiers), first in games, second in hits (to Jordan Brown), fifth in doubles (tied with David Smith), fifth in triples (tied with

Clete Thomas Michael Clete Thomas (born November 14, 1983) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder who played for the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins between 2008 and 2013. Career Amateur Thomas was born in Jacksonville, Florida and ...

and Michael Spidale), and third in RBI (behind Jeff Larish and Oscar Salazar). His 22 home runs were tied for fifth in the league (with Salazar and Luis Jiménez) and set a Connecticut franchise record.

2008

Entering the 2008 season, Bowker was named the ninth best prospect in the Giants' organization by '' Baseball America''. He attended spring training again but was sent to Fresno on March 11. On April 11, Bowker was called up by the Giants, and he joined the team the next day after having only 3 hours of sleep the night before. In a 7–5 loss to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

that day, he got his first hit (a single) and drove in three runs with his first home run, both against Todd Wellemeyer, as he became the eighth player in San Francisco Giants history to hit a home run in his debut. The next day, in the Giants' 7–4 victory over the Cardinals, Bowker had four RBI and hit his second home run, against

Joel Piñeiro Joel Alberto Piñeiro (, ; born September 25, 1978) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ...

, becoming the first player in San Francisco Giants history to hit a home run in each of his first two Major League games. He had seven RBI in his first two games, the most by any major leaguer in his first two games since Joe Cunningham had seven in 1954. Bowker replaced

Rich Aurilia Richard Santo Aurilia (; born September 2, 1971) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop who played for several teams between 1995 and 2009. Amateur career Aurilia was born in Brooklyn, New York. Before being drafted by Texas, Aurilia was a ...

as the Giants' starting

on April 21. On June 7, he hit the first grand slam of his career, against Luis Ayala, in a 6–0 victory over the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

. On July 2, Bowker hit a two-run "Splash Hit" home run into McCovey Cove against

Ryan Dempster Ryan Scott Dempster (born May 3, 1977), is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox. Dempster batted and t ...

in a 6–5 loss to the Chicago Cubs. He was batting .274 before the All-Star break, but after batting .152 with two RBI in 21 games after the break, he was optioned to Fresno on August 13 to make room on the roster for

Travis Ishikawa Travis Takashi Ishikawa (born September 24, 1983) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates. Ishikawa has also ...

, who replaced him as the Giants' first baseman. He was recalled by the Giants on September 2 after rosters expanded. Used mainly as a pinch-hitter in September, he batted .346 with 1 home run in 15 games to finish the season with a .255 batting average (10th among NL rookies), 83 hits (9th among NL rookies), 14 doubles, 3 triples (tied for 4th among NL rookies), 10 home runs (tied for 4th among NL rookies), and 43 RBI (6th among NL rookies) in 111 games. At Fresno, he batted .237 with 22 hits, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, and 9 RBI in 23 games.

2009

On March 29, 2009, Bowker was optioned to Fresno. In June, Bowker was named the Pacific Coast League player of the week for two straight weeks (May 24–31 and June 1–7) after batting .519 with five doubles, six home runs, 16 runs scored, and 18 RBI over that span. He was called up to the Giants on July 9 when Ryan Sadowski was optioned to Fresno. On July 19, he had a game-winning sacrifice fly against

Zach Duke Zachary Thomas Duke (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, St. ...

in the Giants' 4–3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bowker split time in left field with

Randy Winn Dwight Randolph Winn (born June 9, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily as an outfielder. Winn was a switch hitter, and threw right-handed. He mad ...

and at first base with Ishikawa, but he was returned to Fresno on July 26 so the Giants could call up

Eugenio Vélez Eugenio Vélez Vancomper (born May 16, 1982) is a Dominican former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers from 2007 to 2011. Career Toronto Blue Jay ...

after Bowker batted .156 with 4 RBI in 11 games. He was recalled at the beginning of August but was sent back to Fresno after appearing in two games. On August 16, Bowker tied a Grizzlies' record (shared by Dante Powell) by driving in seven runs in an 8–5 victory over the Nashville Sounds. He hit three-run home runs against

Tim Dillard Timothy Charles Dillard (born July 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers. He is a pregame and postgame analyst for Brewers television broadcasts on Bally ...

and

John Axford John Berton Axford (born April 1, 1983), nicknamed "Ax Man", is a Canadian professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Pitts ...

, and he was walked with the bases loaded by David Johnson. On September 1, he was recalled when rosters expanded. He was used mainly as a pinch-hitter until September 23, when he took over left field after Vélez was moved from left field to second base to replace the injured

Freddy Sanchez Frederick Phillip Sanchez Jr. (born December 21, 1977) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Sanchez played in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox (–), Pittsburgh Pirates (–) and San Francisco Giants (–). He ...

. In 31 games with the Giants that year, Bowker batted .194 with 13 hits, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 2 home runs, and 7 RBI in 67 at bats. In 104 games at Fresno, he batted .342 with 125 hits, 22 doubles, 4 triples, 21 home runs, and 83 RBI. He tied for ninth in the league in home runs (with Prentice Redman) and tied for eight in RBI (with

Allen Craig Allen Thomas Craig (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals drafted Craig from the Uni ...

). He led the league in batting, becoming the first Fresno player to win the batting title since Brian Dallimore in 2003. Bowker was named to the PCL's regular-season All-Star team, post-season All-Star team, and All-PCL team.

2010

Although Nate Schierholtz was expected to be the Giants' Opening Day right fielder in 2010, Bowker won the position after hitting six home runs in spring training. On April 7, Bowker hit a two-run home run against

Brett Myers Brett Allen Myers (born August 17, 1980) is an American singer and former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland Indians. Born and r ...

in a 10–4 victory over the Houston Astros. After batting .214 with four RBI in his first 10 games, Bowker was replaced by Schierholtz as the starting right fielder on April 17. On May 7, Bowker hit a ninth-inning game-tying home run against Francisco Rodríguez in an eventual 6–4 loss to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. After batting .207 with 17 hits, 3 doubles, 3 home runs, and 8 RBI in 41 games, Bowker was optioned to Fresno on June 2 to make room for

Pat Burrell Patrick Brian Burrell (born October 10, 1976), nicknamed "Pat the Bat", is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, and San Francisco Giants. Bur ...

on the roster. He was named the PCL Player of the Week from June 14 to June 21 after he had a 13-game hitting streak and a 6-game RBI streak end that week. After batting .310 with 61 hits, 12 doubles, 14 home runs, and 36 RBI in 51 games with Fresno, Bowker and Joe Martinez were traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 31 for Javier López.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Upon being acquired, Bowker was assigned by the Pirates to the Indianapolis Indians of the triple-A International League, where he batted .319 in 25 games with 29 hits, 7 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs, and 10 RBI. He was called up to the Pittsburgh club on September 1 as rosters expanded. By September 13, he had taken over from Lastings Milledge as the Pirates' everyday right fielder. He hit a two-run home run against Barry Enright and had three hits on September 18 in a 9–6 victory over the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

. Four days later, Bowker again had three hits and two RBI, including a solo home run against

Kyle Lohse Kyle Matthew Lohse (; born October 4, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, an ...

, in an 11–6 victory over the Cardinals. He had a

pinch-hit In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

three-run double against

Mike MacDougal Robert Meiklejohn MacDougal (born March 5, 1977) is a former relief pitcher in professional baseball. He is a switch hitter and throws right-handed. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Washingt ...

on September 28 in a 7–2 victory over the Cardinals. With the Pirates in 2010, Bowker batted .232 with 16 hits, 5 doubles, 2 home runs, and 13 RBI in 26 games. His major league totals from 2010 were 33 hits, 5 doubles, 8 home runs, and 21 RBI in 67 games. John Bowker 20120513

Bowker made the Pirates' Opening Day roster in 2011 as a reserve oufielder. After he had 4 hits (1 double) and 2 RBI in 17 at-bats over 19 games, he was

to make room on the roster for

Xavier Paul Xavier Brooks Paul Jr. (born February 25, 1985) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks. Early li ...

on April 27. On May 4, he was assigned to Indianapolis after clearing waivers. In 106 games with Indianapolis, Bowker batted .306 with 129 hits, 27 doubles, 1 triple, 15 home runs, and 76 RBI (ninth in the league). On August 30, 2011, Bowker was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

or cash.

Philadelphia Phillies

Bowker was used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter with the Phillies. He had no hits in 13 at-bats with the Phillies and was left off their postseason roster. With the Phillies and Pirates in 2011, Bowker batted .133 with two RBI in 31 games.

Yomiuri Giants

On January 10, 2012, Bowker was released by the Phillies in order to pursue a career in

. Three days later, he signed a one-year deal with the

. He struggled in the regular season, having only .196 batting average, 3 home runs and 10 RBIs. But his performance in the

Climax Series The is the current annual playoff system implemented by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It determines which team from the Central League (CL) and from the Pacific League (PL) will advance to compete for the championship in the Japan ...

and

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

would be outstanding and were crucial to Giants' both series' Champion. Particularly in Japan Series, which included a near-miss of a tie of Japan series record of 6 RBIs in a game (which he had 5) and leading his Team with 7 RBI and 2 Home Runs. Despite losing to starting pitcher teammate Tetsuya Utsumi in

Japan Series Most Valuable Player The is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the Japan Series, which is the final round of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) postseason. The award was first presented in 1950. The series follows a b ...

award, he was still awarded in Outstanding Player award.

Second stint With San Francisco Giants

2015

In January 2015, Bowker signed a minor league contract with the Giants to return to playing baseball in America. Along with

Ryan Vogelsong Ryan Andrew Vogelsong (born July 22, 1977), nicknamed "Vogey", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates and in Nippon Professional Baseball (N ...

, who had played for the Orix Buffaloes, he is the second Giants draftee to return to the Giants after playing in NPB.

Second Stint With Pittsburgh Pirates

On June 11, 2015 Bowker was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization for a PTBNL. He elected free agency on November 6.

Fukushima Hopes

On May 9, 2017, Bowker signed with the Fukushima Hopes of the

Baseball Challenge League The Route Inn BCL, formerly known as the , is an independent minor baseball league in Japan. The league's abbreviated designation is "." League structure The Baseball Challenge League has three divisions, East, Middle, and West, with four teams ...

. He became a free agent after the season.

Personal life

Growing up, Bowker rooted for the

, the team that drafted him. His uncle, Jeff Carmichael (who coached him growing up), helps him train during the offseason.

References

External links

John Bowker
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowker, John 1983 births American expatriate baseball players in Japan American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Arizona League Giants players Baseball players from Sacramento, California Bravos de Margarita players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Connecticut Defenders players Fresno Grizzlies players Indianapolis Indians players Living people Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball outfielders Mexican League baseball first basemen Mexican League baseball right fielders Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball left fielders Nippon Professional Baseball right fielders Philadelphia Phillies players Piratas de Campeche players Pittsburgh Pirates players Sacramento River Cats players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players San Francisco Giants players San Jose Giants players Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles players Yomiuri Giants players Anchorage Glacier Pilots players