The Astros announced this evening that they’ve signed right-hander Matt Bowman to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Sugar Land. Bowman had been released by the Orioles earlier today, but has now found a new organization to call home for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.
Bowman, 34, made his big league debut in 2016 and spent four seasons with the Cardinals and Reds, posting a 4.02 ERA and 3.67 FIP in 183 games at the big league level before injuries sidelined him for several years. He returned to the majors in 2023 for a three-game stint as a member of the Yankees, and in 2024 he bounced between four clubs before finally settling in as a member of the Orioles in August of last year. He posted a solid 3.45 ERA with a 21.2% strikeout rate in 15 games for Baltimore last year, and after being outrighted off the club’s roster he re-signed on a minor league deal last offseason.
Bowman was briefly added back to the Baltimore’s 40-man roster in March to prevent him from opting out of his deal, but was promptly outrighted to the minors on Opening Day only to be selected onto the roster once again on March 30. He was selected to the roster three more times over the course of 2025 but struggled to a 6.20 ERA in 24 2/3 innings of work with a strikeout rate of just 15.8% in the majors throughout that roller coaster of roster moves. His 4.10 ERA in 26 1/3 innings of work with Triple-A Norfolk wasn’t exactly inspiring, either, though his 21.8% strikeout rate in those outings was certainly an improvement.
Now, Bowman will try to carve out a role for himself in Houston. The right-hander will be eligible to join the Astros in the postseason if the club were to have interest in bringing him onto the 40-man roster because he was able to join the organization prior to September 1, at which point any new additions to the organization would not be eligible for the playoff roster. Of course, it’s a stretch that Bowman would receive much consideration for the club’s playoff roster given that it’s not yet clear whether or not the Astros will even afford him an opportunity on their MLB roster at all this September. Cody Bolton, Jordan Weems, and Tayler Scott are among the other non-roster relief arms in the Astros organization who could vie for playing time if the club finds itself in need of depth during the season’s final month.