The Toronto Blue Jays are currently facing the Seattle Mariners in a series this weekend, which will conclude on Sunday.
The Jays are 42-47 this season, and are still looking to find a surge of wins to propel them back to the .500 mark.
As this is being typed, the Blue Jays and Mariners are currently playing, but in other notable news, Toronto is releasing an MLB veteran pitcher from its organization.
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Blue Jays Officially Release Matt Bowman
GettyANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 26: Relief pitcher Matt Bowman #51 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates after striking out Ehire Adrianza #13 of the Los Angeles Angels for the last out of the eighth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 26, 2024 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Per Matt Bowman’s MLB.com transaction page, he has officially been released from the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
Bowman had an opt-out clause in his minor league deal. Per his transactions tracker, it appears that the release officially happened on Saturday, July 4.
He was with the team’s Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. Matt Bowman has not pitched in MLB since 2025 with the Baltimore Orioles.
Bowman signed with the Blue Jays in late May and then was placed on the temporarily inactive list, which is likely what spurred the organization to release him.
MLBTR.com’s Darragh McDonald wrote (on 7/3):
“He has been with Triple-A Buffalo for the past few weeks and has allowed 10 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings. A 10.38 ERA is obviously not good but there’s a lot of bad luck in that tiny sample. His .360 batting average on balls in play and 25.9% strand rate are both to the unfortunate side, particularly the latter number. Meanwhile, his 23.7% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 53.8% ground ball rate are all solid figures.”
Those minor league numbers are… ugly to say the least, and it’s no shock that the Blue Jays decided they didn’t want to add him to their Major League roster.
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Matt Bowman’s MLB Career
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JULY 01: Pitcher Matt Bowman #51 of the Baltimore Orioles leaves the game against the Texas Rangers during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field on July 01, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Matt Bowman has pitched in parts of seven MLB seasons. He holds a career pitching record of 8-14 with an ERA of 4.38 over 240+ innings and 196 strikeouts to go along with.
He came up with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016 and had a solid few seasons, but after 2019, Bowman took a three-year hiatus from MLB before returning and joining the Yankees for a brief stint.
Since 2019, Matt Bowman has not logged a season with more than 30 innings pitched. In 2025 (with the Orioles), he pitched to a 6.00+ ERA over 24.2 innings pitched.
The 35-year-old right-hander is now free to sign with any MLB team, and it will be interesting to see if another organization wants to take a chance on him in the wake of his struggles in the minors.
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