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J.C. FLOWERS, RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
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| Born: May 19, 1998 Height: 6’3″ Weight: 190 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 4th Round, 124th Overall, 2019 How Acquired: Draft College: Florida State University Agent: N/A |
WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE |
| Flowers was a two-way player at Florida State, playing center field and showing good speed and power, with a lot of swing and miss. He was a football star in high school, so he’s very athletic. The Pirates drafted him as a pitcher and plan to employ him as a starter. His fastball can reach the mid-90s but sits in the low-90s. He throws an inconsistent slider and also throws a change. He has very limited experience on the mound, not pitching in college until he served as closer in his junior year. The Pirates are hoping he’ll benefit from focusing on the mound. In that junior year, Flowers had a 1.52 ERA and .188 opponents’ batting average. In 23.2 IP, he struck out 22 and walked ten in 23.2 IP. Baseball America ranked Flowers 205th among draft prospects, so his selection continued a trend of the Pirates overdrafting players in the early rounds. He signed four weeks after the draft, as his team was in the College World Series. His bonus was $40,000 above the slot amount.
2019 Flowers pitched as a starter with West Virginia, apart from one relief appearance. The Pirates increased his inning total slowly and he reached five only in his last start. He was erratic, partly due to command issues. Opponents hit 282/351/470 against him in a league where the average was 232/313/337. Flowers is going to be a project, partly due to the transition to starting. He’s most likely to go to Greensboro in 2020. |
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2020: Minor league contract |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: $500,000 MiLB Debut: 2019 MLB Debut: MiLB FA Eligible: 2025 MLB FA Eligible: Rule 5 Eligible: 2022 Added to 40-Man: Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| June 11, 2016: Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 18th round, 528th overall pick. June 4, 2019: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 4th round, 74th overall pick; signed on July 1. |