Maryland native Matt Bowman looks to find a home in the O's struggling bullpen

Right-handed reliever Matt Bowman, if he gets into a game with the Orioles, would be pitching for his fourth MLB team this season.

He got into five games in April with Minnesota, four with Arizona in May and one with Seattle in June.

He has actually already pitched this year at Oriole Park, throwing two scoreless on May 12 for the Diamondbacks.

Now after his transactions-filled year and season he wouldn’t mind finding a home with the team from his home state.

Bowman, 33, is 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA over 15 combined innings with a 1.200 WHIP. Since 2016 he has a career 4.22 ERA in the majors over 200 1/3 innings for six clubs.

From Chevy Chase, Md., Bowman was signed by the Orioles Aug. 15 and pitched three scoreless for Triple-A Norfolk with six strikeouts.

Bowman played baseball and soccer at St. Albans High School in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Chevy Chase and led his baseball team to three Interstate Athletic Conference championships and was an all-conference sweeper in soccer. He then majored in economics at Princeton University, where he pitched and played shortstop. He was a Mets 13^th-round pick in 2012.

“Friends are very excited. They hit me up for tickets immediately,” he said of now being an Oriole. “A bit of a trek from D.C. Family is very happy but at this point it’s the fourth team I’ve been on. So, they are like ‘Cool, sounds good. How many blankets and hats can we buy?’

“Very excited. I’d be lying if I said I grew up an Orioles fan. But it was approximate enough to pay attention. More of, eventually, a Nationals fan but I’m certainly an Orioles fan right now.”

What a year he’s had.

He signed with the Twins in January. Was added by Arizona in a cash deal May 2. He was granted free agency several times this year through various opt outs. July 4 he was re-signed by Minnesota, released by the Twins Aug. 12 and added by the O’s three days later.

“It’s been hectic for sure. I’d say the first time I switched organizations from the Twins to the Diamonbacks that was new for me so that was a little more difficult, but now it’s a lot easier. I’m glad to have gotten that one out of the way and now  it feels very easy to switch orgs," he said. 

On Aug. 15 and Aug. 18 he pitched scoreless outings for the Tides. In the bigs this year Bowman has thrown his two-seamer 41 percent at an average velo of 92.3 mph.

“Pitchers find good stretches every once in a while and I feel I found one of those (with Norfolk). It’s confidence. They have a good system here, good scouting reports. So, hopefully that continues," he said.

If it does he could move up the leverage ladder fast in a struggling O's bullpen. One that has allowed runs in six straight games with an ERA of 6.43 in that span, yielding eight home runs over the last 21 innings.

“Generally as a reliever, especially when you first come up, you just do whatever they ask you. You take the ball when they ask and stop pitching when they take it from you. Hopefully I give them a lot of innings. It sounds like they need a little bit of help in the total innings department," said Bowman.

The O's bullpen ERA is now 4.18 for the season to rank 10th-best in the American League and 23rd in the majors.