Bowden's recovery role models: Bard, Oberg

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- With each solid Cactus League outing, Rockies No. 15 prospect Ben Bowden gets just a little closer to putting behind him the pain and stress of some ill-timed, freakish injuries that, thus far, have kept him out of the Majors.

It helps that every day at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, he shares a clubhouse with relief pitchers Daniel Bard and Scott Oberg, whose have been through their own struggles. Control problems forced Bard out of the Majors in 2013, until he made a successful comeback as the Rockies' closer in 2020. Oberg is coming back from his third bout with blood clots in his right arm.

“I look at the attitudes of those guys, and they're always so positive and so ready to go,” Bowden said. “You never see them down. As a young guy, I see that, I'm like, 'Wow.' I admire that and the way that they go about their business.”

• Spring Training information | Spring Training schedule

Bowden, 26, is left-handed reliever vying for a spot on the Opening Day roster -- or, at least, hoping to impress enough to be on the shortlist of options at Triple-A Albuquerque. Through five Spring Training outings, Bowden has five strikeouts and two walks, and has held opponents to a .188 batting average.

Getting to this point has been an unexpectedly long trip. The Rockies drafted Bowden in the second round in 2016 out of Vanderbilt, where he was part of a national champion team in '14 and made two College World Series trips ('14 and '15).

Assigned immediately to full-season ball at Class A Asheville, Bowden finished the 2016 season by giving up just one run in his final 14 appearances.

But in 2017, a hamstring injury delayed him, and he started the year in extended spring training. Then, on a flight to Asheville for a rehab assignment, he helped a fellow passenger put her luggage in the plane’s overhead bin and sustained a freak injury to his throwing shoulder. While rehabbing in Grand Junction, he was one bullpen session from appearing in a game when he came down with what was diagnosed as a bulging disk in his back that turned into a herniated disk and required surgery. He never pitched that year.

Bowden stayed healthy for two seasons, topped out at Triple-A in 2019 and was placed on the Major League 40-man roster for ’20. However, more back problems cropped last spring. Another disk herniated, and he never appeared in Spring Training.

But after rehab, Bowden saw light when he threw 10 innings at the alternate training site, and joined the Rockies' traveling party on the final road trip to San Francisco and Arizona. He was never activated.

“There have been quite a few ups and some rough downs along the way,” Bowden said. “I’ve got no shortage of motivation. It was definitely nice to have the injury happen, get around it and, within one season, get back to where I was ready to go again.

“The injuries are tough to deal with. I’m not injured right now. I’m ready to go.”

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Manager Bud Black kicked Bowden’s development into high gear on Sunday, throwing him in against Rangers veteran Rougned Odor with two on and two outs. Bowden walked Odor, but came back from a 2-0 count to fan Nick Solak.

Black likes Bowden’s aggressiveness.

“He really has conviction in his stuff,” Black said. “He's on the attack. He doesn't back down. Even though the fastball might not have upper-end velocity, it has life to it and has carry through the strike zone. The breaking ball is developing. So he's getting closer.”

If the Rockies carry a lefty on the season-opening 26-man roster, Bowden is competing with Phillip Diehl, who pitched well in 2019 and not as well in '20. But righty Tyler Kinley possesses a slider that gives left-handed batters fits, so it’s conceivable the Rockies will start ’21 with an entirely right-handed bullpen.

Bowden talks about a genuine group of teammates who know his story and check in on him to make sure he is healthy enough to grab his dream. And he has a couple veterans who know something about difficult treks.

“Me and ‘Bardo’ have gone finishing,” said Bowden, who was a fan of Bard and the triple-digits fastball he threw for the Red Sox, but did not know much about the years in the interim until Bard joined the Rockies. “‘Obie,’ I’m just happy to see him back. He’s in a good place mentally and seems really happy.”

Bowden has a chance to be the Rockies’ next story of overcoming setback.