Washington Nationals: Former Pitcher Micah Bowie Fighting for His Life

Former Washington Nationals pitcher Micah Bowie spent the better part of 15 years fighting for roster spots on several big league teams. Now, he fights for his life.

Former Washington Nationals RP Micah Bowie‘s big league career resembles that of the Greek mythology of Sisyphus. After cheating death multiple times, Sisyphus was condemned for eternity to repeatedly roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down.

Similarly, things never came easily for Micah Bowie. Upon being drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 8th round of the 1993 MLB June Amateur Draft, Bowie spent the next six years working his way up to the big leagues.

After finally being called up for his first big league game for the World Series bound Braves in July of 1999, Bowie was promptly traded to the last place Chicago Cubs where he would remain for the rest of the season.

Just as quickly as Bowie’s big league career began, however, it ended. Later that winter, the Cubs released Micah Bowie and the Oakland Athletics decided to give him a shot.

*Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the hill, only for it to roll back down again.*

While with the A’s organization, Bowie would spend the next three years in the minors, working his way up the ranks, this time as a RP.

He never quite made it back to the big leagues with the A’s, however, and in 2003 he would again be released. This time, it was the Arizona Diamondbacks who decided to give him a shot, but after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Bowie missed the rest of 2004.

*Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the hill, only for it to roll back down again.*

This should have been rock bottom for the journeyman pitcher, but instead Bowie would sign with the Washington Nationals just in time for the 2005 season.

While he spent all of 2005 in the minors, in 2006 he was called up to big leagues once more. This time, Bowie showed flashes of consistency and became one of manager Frank Robinson‘s go-to guys out of the pen for the rest of the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

In that span, Bowie put up a serviceable 3.74 ERA in 77 IP, the most IP with any single team in his MLB career.

In his last month with the Washington Nationals, however, Bowie suffered a season ending injury. In a piece by Thom Loverro of the Washington Times, Bowie is quoted saying:

"I was injured and missed the last month of the season, and when I came in to talk to (manager Frank Robinson), he said, ‘You ride a horse as hard as you can, then you shoot them. We can’t shoot you.’ We laughed, but he did like to ride the hot hand in the bullpen till you couldn’t go anymore.”"

Unfortunately for Bowie, he couldn’t go anymore for the Washington Nationals.

That offseason, Bowie was released by the Washington Nationals and signed by the Colorado Rockies, where after 8 IP, he’d walk off a major league mound for that last time in his career.

*Sisyphus rolls the boulder up the hill, only for it to roll back down again.*