'I knew it was going to happen': Determination takes Bowen from UNCP to Seattle Mariners

Jul. 22—PEMBROKE — During the 2019 MLB Draft, when Darren Bowen was eligible to be drafted out of high school but knew he was not on anyone's radar for selection, he put out a tweet saying he would one day be picked.

"MLB draft is today...where am I? The gym," the tweet said. "I'm not good enough, not even close, I don't want this same feeling in 4 years. Imma get mines."

It took only three years.

The right-handed pitcher, from Red Springs High School and The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, was drafted by the Seattle Mariners Tuesday in the 13th round of the MLB Draft, accomplishing the dream of playing professional baseball. He becomes the first Robeson County native to be drafted since the San Diego Padres selected Fairmont High School product Michael Bass out of UNC Wilmington in 2013.

"I did it all here in Robeson County," said Bowen, a St. Pauls native. "A lot of people try to tell you, that can't happen, or somebody says oh he's not that good, and different things like that. But I knew it was going to happen when I sent that tweet out. I still remember that day; I was at Planet Fitness working out while it was going on. I knew I wasn't being drafted (that year), I was throwing 85 miles per hour, but it was just one of those things, I knew my time was coming eventually but I had to work for it."

Bowen says he was contacted by a "couple" of teams on Monday, the day of rounds two through 10 of the Draft, about the possibility of being selected by the end of the day. When that didn't happen, "quite a few teams" called Monday night and into Tuesday, including the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins and the Mariners, who told Bowen they would take him within their first three picks on Tuesday, when the 11th to 20th rounds took place.

"We finally get to round 13, and it was just like, I'm getting all these phone calls but I don't know if anybody's actually going to take me, and I saw Seattle popped back up during the draft and I knew they were probably going to take me," Bowen said. "I answered (the phone) and they said 'are you ready to become a big leaguer.' I was like, let's make this thing happen. It's one of those things that it's crazy it finally happened, but I knew it was going to happen."

Bowen is UNCP's 15th Draft selection and the fourth during head coach Paul O'Neil's tenure, marking the second straight year a Braves player has been drafted; pitcher/infielder River Ryan was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 11th round last year and has since been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he is currently playing at a Class-A minor-league affiliate.

"Anytime you get exposure like this it's definitely a positive," O'Neil said. "We've had a lot of really good players that have come through UNC Pembroke in the last 20 years, and those guys who came before River and Darren, they're the ones who paved the way for those guys to have the opportunities they're getting today. ... It's great for our program and university, and it's great for our area; Darren's a Robeson County product, so I think that's even more special."

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Bowen was 1-3 with a 5.43 ERA this spring at UNCP, starting as closer and earning a team-high nine saves before moving to the starting rotation for the last month of the season; he struck out 84 batters in 54 2/3 innings. As primarily a starter in 2021, Bowen was 5-2 with a 5.34 ERA.

Bowen showed great improvement each year with the Braves, culminating in his selection by the Mariners on Tuesday.

"If I went to Vanderbilt ... I don't know if I'd be where I am now. That's a testament to Coach (Jeff) Jefferson and Coach (Paul) O'Neill, and Coach (Daniel) Britt coming in, and Coach Collins (Cuthrell), him coming in and helping in the weight room too," Bowen said. "It's made a world of difference, me getting stronger and my body starting to develop. ... I don't know if anybody else from any school would've put the time in with me like Coach Jefferson has."

"I am so proud of Darren as far as ... seeing where he was in high school and seeing the growth and development into his freshman year and sophomore year and this year, as far as where he's made gains every single year," O'Neil said. "This young man has worked his tail off to improve himself and his game."

Bowen's development has gone beyond baseball, O'Neil said, as he's "grown up quite a bit" during his three years in the Braves program.

"He is a solid individual; just a great person," O'Neil said. "I couldn't be more proud of Darren, to see him get to achieve one of the goals that he wrote down on his goal sheet when he first came to school here, and now he's getting to realize his dream, and I couldn't be happier."

Bowen will report Friday to the Mariners' spring training facility in Arizona; his most likely location to begin playing games is for the Mariners' rookie-ball team in Peoria, Arizona. Should Bowen progress in the minor leagues, the Mariners' other minor-league teams are currently located in Modesto, California; Everett, Washington; North Little Rock, Arkansas; and Tacoma, Washington.

The Mariners have told Bowen, who worked 18 games as a starter in college and 24 as a reliever, that they plan to use him as a starting pitcher in the beginning.

"Right now they have me in the rotation as a starter," Bowen said. "They want to work with me as a starter; I've got to go out there and sit down, talk with the organization. They're going to put me on a plan, get me going."

But with Bowen's versatility as a pitcher, only time will tell what his role in the Mariners organization ultimately becomes.

"They're going to develop him some more, they're going to train him some more and wherever is best suited for him, where he can have the best success is where he's going to land," O'Neil said. "I can tell you this — he'll work as hard as he possibly can, and do the very best he can; whatever role they decide to put him in, he will try like crazy to be successful at it."

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.