Twins Claim RHP Jackson Kowar from Mariners

[Seth Stohs]

Image courtesy of © Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

Charlotte Christian High School in North Carolina has some impressive alumni in the world of sports. If you want to start with basketball, Seth and Steph Curry went to the school. Daniel Bard and his younger brother, former Twins first-round pick Luke Bard, went to the private school. Former Vikings center Garrett Bradbury started on the gridiron and the baseball field for the Knights. He was a legit power-hitting catcher prospect. In 2013, he found himself catching future Twins starter Bailey Ober. 

And now the newest member of the Twins organization was a sophomore on that 2013 Charlotte Christian Knights baseball team. On Tuesday afternoon, the Twins claimed right-handed pitcher Jackson Kowar from the Seattle Mariners. They had DFAd him when they acquired Jhonny Pereda from the Twins last week. 

Bradbury went to North Carolina State and played football. Wise choice for him. Ober went to the College of Charleston where he was a freshman All American and a 2017 draft pick. Kowar was the top prospect of the group. In 2015, he was drafted by the Tigers but instead went to the University of Florida. 

In 2018, the Royals used their first five draft picks on college pitchers. Their first pick (18th overall) was fellow Gators starter Brady Singer. Kowar was the 33rd overall pick. One pick later, they took Daniel Lynch out of the University of Virginia. With the 40th pick (another Competitive Balance pick), the selected lefty Kris Bubic from Stanford. Their second-round pick (58th overall) was Jonathan Bowlan from the University of Memphis. 

Things haven't gone easily for any of those picks. Singer has had a solid career; He's been work at least 3.0 bWAR in three of the past four seasons. He spent five seasons with the Royals before getting traded to Cincinnati for Jonathan India. Lynch made 51 starts for the Royals between 2021 and 2023. The past two seasons, he has pitched in 68 games out of the Royals bullpen. Bubic has spent parts of the past six seasons with the Royals. He missed significant time in 2023 and 2024 due to Tommy John, but he's been really good since returning, a new pitcher. He made the All-Star team in 2025 and posted a 2.55 ERA over 116 1/3 innings. Bowlan pitched in three games for the Royals between 2023 and 2024. In 2025, he worked in 34 games, all but one out of the bullpen. In December, he was traded to the Phillies for Matt Strahm. 

While his upside and talent were as high as any college pitchers from that 2018 draft, Jackson Kowar has been unable to find any sustained success in the big leagues. He debuted with eight starts and a relief appearance in 2021. He went 0-6 with an 11.27 ERA. In 2022, he pitched in seven games out of the bullpen and posted a 9.77 ERA. In 23 games in 2023, he went 2-0 despite a 6.43 ERA. He missed the entire 2024 season after Tommy John surgery. He returned in 2025 with the Mariners. In 15 games, he posted a solid 4.24 ERA. Combined in 54 MLB games and 91 innings, he has an 8.21 ERA, a 1.93 WHIP. 8.9 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9. 

Kowar has always thrown hard. Before the injury, his fastball averaged 95-96 mph. That jumped to 96.9 mph in 2023. Upon his return in 2025, he averaged 97.3 mph with the fastball. He threw more fastballs in 2025, and he also threw more sliders where came in at an average of 86.2 mph. Previously, he had always thrown between 30 and 43% changeups. The Mariners had him nearly completely drop the pitch (threw it just 5% of the time). 

With the addition of Kowar, the Twins 40-man roster is full. 

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[DataNerd]

See what he does in spring training (assuming that he isn't DFA'd before then).  Fastball is legit, could be a weapon if he gets fixed, but likely doesn't make the team.

[LA Vikes Fan]

Unfortunately, no options. Maybe we can sneak him through waivers late in Spring Training given that teams will have to add him to the 40 man. Sems like he either has a lights out ST or he's gone/in AAA. Still, not a bad return for Jhonny Perada. Basically a fair "trade" for both teams. 

[mikelink45]

Quote

The former first-round draft pick has a career ERA of 8.21 over parts of four MLB seasons.

Bullpen solved

[Riverbrian]

Hate the numbers but I love the upper level velocity. 

If you are going to take a chance on someone. I'll take the guy with upper level velocity. 

[Cris E]

Similarly, if you are going to try to slide a guy through waivers I'll take the guy with control problems and an 8 ERA.

[sweetmusicviola16]

No half measures.

[Jacksson]

So much for using that 40 man roster vacancy for the recently DFA'd Mickey Gasper !!

[Jacksson]

He could be Minnesota's own "Wild Thing" !!

[Blyleven2011]

1 hour ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

No half measures.

Definitely better than having a Gasper on the roster  , sorry Gasper fans ...

[thelanges5]

He’s got the top average fastball of the guys currently in the BP. Curious to see what Maki and Hawkins can do with him.

[Old Twins Hat]

You know, if the Twins want to break the mold with the Bullpen, then I think they should keep signing these guys, get a zany camera crew, film the whole of spring training games from the bullpen, make it into a reality show and hope for the best.  If they make the world series and even one guy from their roster is a stud -- this would pay back millions.

[terrydactyls]

Strange article.  Most of it was about pitchers that the Twins did not claim on waivers and are doing okay with other teams.  And then the bombshell.  The guy the Twins did pick up on waivers has a career ERA over 8.00.  Great lead-in to that tidbit.

[CRF]

You really have to look under a lot of rocks to find guys like this. Amazing! What's next? Checking obits?

[rv78]

Falvey leaves and the process of finding the worst of the worst remains the same. 

[JD-TWINS]

15 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Bullpen solved

“Could be” the next Brock Stewart - maybe?

[TopGunn#22]

Well, this was certainly not the "answer" to finishing our quest to stock our BP.  But with a fastball like that it's the quintessential lottery ticket.  Monitor him in spring training and see how he does.  Baseball is full of stories like this, where a guy suddenly turns a corner.  It's not common, but it happens.  Best case scenario:  He looks OK, makes it thru waivers.  Goes to St. Paul and pitches well, and later gets an opportunity with the Twins. 

I still think some bigger moves are percolating for the Twins.    

[bean5302]

Well, while I dislike his results, as a fan I like the fact he has MLB experience since it gives me the opportunity to do some amatuer analysis on him.

From a Stuff+ perspective, Kowar's problem is he throws his fastball too much. 60% of the time is way too much for an unimpressive pitch. The velocity is great, but the movement is sub-par, he doesn't get good extension so his velocity plays a lot lower than it is, and there is very little spin on it. He also tends to locate his fastball middle-middle too much.

The changeup and slider are very good pitches, but he can't seem to locate the changeup. Not sure if the Twins can pick up on a repeating mechanical issue to get more consistency out of location of the pitch.

There is quality to work with, but it needs revision. Getting better extension and improving mechanics for the changeup could help Kowar really be something. Sounds simple, but those are big changes.

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, rv78 said:

Falvey leaves and the process of finding the worst of the worst remains the same. 

Every team plays the waiver wire game

[Chembry]

13 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Every team plays the waiver wire game

This can't be stated enough...I posted a thread in the "other baseball" category about the Dodgers crazy waiver situation.  They just DFAd Ibanez, who signed a MLB free agent contract with them a month ago, to claim Siani who they DFAd to make room for Tucker.  Here are the details:

The Dodgers claimed Michael Siani on December 12th and signed Andy Ibanez to a 1 year $1.2M MLB deal as a free agent on January 13th. 

Kyle Tucker agreed to his contract with the Dodgers on January 21st.  To make room for him, they DFAd Siani.  Siani was claimed by the Yankees on January 23rd.  The Yankees then DFAd Siani to make room for Angel Chivilli on January 29th.

Now February 3rd, the Dodgers reclaimed Siani and DFAd Andy Ibanez who they just signed a $1.2M free agent deal less then a month ago…

Crazy to claim the same guy off waivers twice in the same offseason, but equally as crazy to DFA a guy you just signed as a free agent, even if it’s only a $1.2M contract.  Why did the Dodgers do that?  Trying to get Ibanez through waivers. 

I know claiming the same guy in the same offseason has happened before, but not very often.  Adam Rosales was claimed 4 times (twice by the Rangers and twice by the A’s) in a span of about 10 days in 2013

[DJL44]

47 minutes ago, Chembry said:

Now February 3rd, the Dodgers reclaimed Siani and DFAd Andy Ibanez who they just signed a $1.2M free agent deal less then a month ago…

Crazy to claim the same guy off waivers twice in the same offseason, but equally as crazy to DFA a guy you just signed as a free agent, even if it’s only a $1.2M contract.  Why did the Dodgers do that?  Trying to get Ibanez through waivers. 

I know claiming the same guy in the same offseason has happened before, but not very often.  Adam Rosales was claimed 4 times (twice by the Rangers and twice by the A’s) in a span of about 10 days in 2013

It is truly unfair that the Dodgers are giving players $1.2M contracts to stack their AAA team. 

[DocBauer]

On 2/3/2026 at 4:15 PM, Riverbrian said:

Hate the numbers but I love the upper level velocity. 

If you are going to take a chance on someone. I'll take the guy with upper level velocity. 

THIS! 

While Kowar is no means an exciting signing, he's only 28yo. He's got velocity and a pedigree...for what it's worth...that had him as a high draft choice. The fact that his career ML ERA is abhorrent is also juxtaposed by a fairly decent ERA, and his best to date. That brings at least a little optimism.

Can the Twins "fix" him to get more out of him? Just because the Royals couldn't doesn't mean he's not "fixable". While a SSS, Seattle got the best out of him so far in his ML career. He's at the age where maybe the mental part of his game is starting to come together. Does he need a different arm angle? Can Maki and/or Hawkins find that difference making adjustment that suddenly unlocks some potential?

Maybe they can, and maybe they can't. But literally every year there are former top arms that hit the right age/experience level in their careers, end up with the right team and coaches, and suddenly everything coalesces to bring an arm from "what ever happened" to "who saw this coming"?

In fairly recent history, Thielbar was a fairly low prospect for the Twins who flashed a little bit, and then was quickly put of MLB. He bounced around for a few years, and then had a good AAA seasons for the Tigers. For some reason, Detroit didn't see value and let him walk. He came back to the Twins and we all know the results that came from that.

Look, Kowar might just be another arm in the history of MLB that was a high draftee that just didn't turn out. But at 28yo with velocity and a slider on hand, it's also possible the Twins braintrust adds a MPH or two, changes his arm angle, and suddenly his stuff plays up. This is a smart flier. He might disappear tomorrow. But he might also be a tweak away from being a solid pen arm.

It's not a bad dart throw.

[Doctor Wu]

20 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

I still think some bigger moves are percolating for the Twins.   

Fingers crossed.

[JBK]

BP pitcher as in, batting practice?

[SteveLV]

JBK, in the Twins bullpen, is there a difference?