Matt Bowman on Leaving Las Vegas (for St. Louis)

Matt Bowman is having a solid rookie season in St. Louis. The 25-year-old right-hander — a Rule-5 pick out of the Mets system — has a 4.06 ERA and a 3.64 FIP in 50 games out of the Cardinals bullpen. He’s admittedly surprised by his success. As he explained to me six weeks ago, “It was a tough year last year.”

The numbers bear that out. Pitching as a starter for the Las Vegas 51s, Bowman went 7-16 with a 5.53 ERA. In 140 innings for New York’s Triple-A affiliate, his WHIP was a whiplash-inducing 1.68.

Bowman doesn’t attribute his turnaround to a mechanical tweak or an alteration of style. Nor does he point to an amended repertoire or an increase in velocity. Those things haven’t changed. What has changed is his environment. Bowman is no longer in a hitter-friendly ballpark in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. It’s often said that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and for Bowman that meant perplexity and poor performance.

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Bowman on leaving Las Vegas: “From a statistical standpoint, you would look at last year, and then at this year, and wonder how exactly that jump happened. People are usually like, ‘Add on a run for Vegas; that’s really all you need to do. Whatever that was, that’s how good he was.’ I think there’s probably more to Vegas than that.

“There is something that stats — something that sabermetrics — won’t be able to capture. Part of it is the confidence of a pitcher. This a game of adjustments and when things are going poorly it can be hard to trust that you don’t need to make an adjustment. That’s a way in which statistics can’t capture a transition out of Vegas.

“If I’m sitting here trying to explain the difference between me last year and me this year, that’s what comes to mind first. It’s more of a mentality thing. There are a lot of little things, as well, but getting out of Vegas was a big deal for me. The ball doesn’t move as much, and when you give up a bunch of hits — even if they’re on the ground — you tend to start pitching differently.

“You could look at last year as an aberration — I’ve had success in the past — but had I gone back to Vegas this year, I may have ended up in the same position. I may have had a 5.50 or a 6.00 ERA. The minor leagues are for adjustments and refinement, and it’s very difficult to know exactly what’s going on in an environment like that. You can never truly understand whether it’s the ballpark, your own pitching, or a combination of the two.

“I’ve seen a few guys go up to Vegas from Double-A and do well. My first few starts there [late in the 2014 season] were actually pretty good. But the longer you stay there, the worse it gets. I think of guys like Rafael Montero, who is an excellent pitcher but has clearly struggled mightily in the PCL. Again, baseball is a game of adjustments, and it’s a place that will drive you crazy.

“As someone who is in Triple-A trying to make it to the big leagues, you’re thinking, ‘OK, I need to make an adjustment, make an adjustment, make an adjustment.’ You’re so close to making it, and all of a sudden you’re not trusting the process. Instead, you’re trying to get results, so you get away from your game. Last year, I forgot what type of pitcher I was. I lost my identity.

“Vegas was definitely one of the toughest — it was one of the driest and hardest fields — but we also had Reno, Albuquerque… I mean, the ball flies in those parks. I think there’s a carryover effect, too. You start doubting yourself, so even when you go on the road and make that East-of-the-Mississippi swing, it’s tough.

“I remember one game in Vegas where it had actually rained, and it was a little more humid. I started throwing sinkers and they were sinking. The pitching coach was like, ‘Why the F don’t you just do that all the time?’ I was like, ‘Well, when it’s not humid, the ball doesn’t move.’ When you get that feedback… I mean, you’re losing movement. High altitude and all these things factor in, and all of a sudden you’re trying to be a different pitcher. Then you go to New Orleans, where you might normally pitch a little more to your identity, but you’ve already changed how you’re pitching.

“If I was throwing a changeup in Vegas, it wouldn’t move like it moves here in St. Louis. I went through four different changeup grips in Vegas. One that I tried didn’t work in Vegas, but it’s working outside of Vegas. That’s an example of an adjustment I’ve made this year.

“A big difference in the minor-league-to-major-league jump has been the information I have available to me. In Vegas, I was in a difficult pitchers’ environment where you don’t know as much about the hitters. I was kind of feeling out exactly what they do. Here I have information, and I can trust that information. I don’t have to wonder if I made a bad pitch, or if I should be tipping my cap to the hitter. I can go back and see exactly where the pitch was, and exactly what that hitter does on that pitch. Instead of spending a week wondering, I can get an answer and move on.

“There are guys out there who probably think too much, and I’ve been one of those guys. I still am one of those guys. It’s not like I’ve outgrown it. But having information helps me. I like to know, ‘OK, here is the adjustment I need to make.’ Thinking about something — thinking and thinking and thinking — without having an answer is when you get paralysis by analysis. That’s what happened in Vegas. I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, or if I was doing anything wrong. I had no idea.”