John Bowker (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| San Francisco Giants — No. 21 | |
| First baseman / Outfielder | |
| Born: July 8, 1983 Sacramento, California |
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|---|---|
| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| April 12, 2008 for the San Francisco Giants | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through June 10, 2008) |
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| Batting average | .243 |
| Home runs | 6 |
| Runs batted in | 23 |
| Teams | |
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John B. Bowker (born July 8, 1983 in Sacramento, California) is a Major League Baseball corner outfielder and a first baseman. for the San Francisco Giants. He bats and throws left-handed.
Prior to playing professional baseball, John played for Arden Little League as a Giant. Bowker attended Rio Americano High School in Sacramento and 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 avg. (.463) hits (41), HRs (8) and RBI (41). He spent two years at Long Beach State University, before entering draft following 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.
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[edit] Minor League career
Originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the third round of the 2004 amateur 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. With the AZL Giants, he hit .512 in 43 at bats.
He spent the 2005 season with the High Class-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 415 minor league games.
[edit] Major League career
On April 12, 2008, Bowker was promoted to the Majors. He was told late the night before and left Fresno at 5:30 a.m. the next the morning, having slept 3 hours, before being inserted into the starting line-up and making his debut with the San Francisco Giants.[1] 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 debut.[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]
[edit] References
- ^ Ratto, Ray. "Bowker's big debut the best part of the day", The San Francisco Chronicle, 2008-04-13. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ Shea, John. "Another crusher for Cain", The San Francisco Chronicle, 2008-04-13. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ "Giants' call-up owns HR record=Shulman", The San Francisco Chronicle, 2008-04-14. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
