KC Royals: Jonathan Bowlan yet another 2018 draft pick proving his worth

The KC Royals made the decision to draft five straight college pitchers in the 2018 MLB Draft. All five of them are doing big things as minor league prospects, including Jonathan Bowlan, who threw a no hitter on Monday night.

When most people discuss the Kansas City Royals‘ 2018 MLB Draft class, the likes of Brady Singer, Jackson Kowar, and recently Kris Bubic have been the topics of conversation. It’s time, however, to start talking more about Jonathan Bowlan, who threw a no hitter for the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Monday.

Bowlan, who is 22 and won’t turn 23 until December, has quietly put together a nice season in the minor leagues. Prior to his promotion to Wilmington, Bowlan had a 3.36 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 69.2 innings for the Lexington Legends. A promotion was definitely in order for the Memphis product and he was bumped up to Wilmington to help out there.

Once Bowlan joined the Blue Rocks, he continued to be a dominant force on the mound. Before his no hitter on Monday, Bowlan had a 2.16 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with a 3-1 record through 25 innings.

It really is interesting to see how well all five of these college pitchers the Royals took last year are doing in the minor leagues. Bowlan just threw a no hitter, Singer and Bubic participated in the Futures Game in Cleveland, Kowar has a 1.61 ERA in Double-A with Northwest Arkansas, and even though Daniel Lynch is injured, he was dealing before sustaining that injury.

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It’s highly unlikely that these five become the future Royals rotation, but that’d be so cool if that were to happen. All five are pitching well and that wasn’t something fans thought would be the case so early into their careers.

Back to Bowlan. He’s been the most pleasant surprise of the five, mainly because he was the fifth one taken. The second round pick played his college ball at Memphis, where he had a 3.71 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in the 2018 season. The Tigers weren’t great though and as a result, Bowlan had a 2-9 record as a starter through 85 innings pitched.

As mentioned earlier in the post, Royals fans are most excited for Singer and Kowar, but Bowlan deserves more praise. His no hitter hopefully will put him on Royals fans’ radars and while he might not move any higher than Double-A this year (which that might not even happen), the future sure looks bright when it comes to the starting rotation in Kansas City.

Do you think Jonathan Bowlan could contribute to the Royals in the coming years?