J.C. Flowers
J.C. Flowers
Position: RHP
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 195 lbs
Bats/Throws: R/R
Born: 05/19/1998
College: Florida State University
How Acquired: Draft 4th round, 74th Overall, 2019
Bonus: $500,000
40-man Roster: No
Rule 5 Eligible: Yes
Minor League Free Agency: 2025
Options Left: 3
Overview
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. He throws both a two-seam and four-seam fastball, reaching the mid-90s but sitting in the low-90s. His out pitch is a slider that can produce swings and misses, and he occasionally throws a change. He had very limited experience on the mound in college, not pitching until he served as closer in his junior year. In that 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. 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.
2019-21
In his draft year, Flowers pitched as a starter with West Virginia, apart from one relief appearance. He was erratic, partly due to command issues, but he also got hit hard. Opponents batted 282/351/470 against him in a league where the average was 232/313/337. He didn’t pitch in 2020, then opened the 2021 season at Bradenton, making two starts and four relief appearances. He dominated there and the Pirates moved him up to Greensboro. He pitched in 15 games there, 11 of them starts, and the results were more uneven. He had four bad games in a five-game stretch around the middle of his time there in which he allowed 20 of the 29 runs he allowed at the level. He finished the season well. Flowers had much more success on the road than at home, so the Greensboro ballpark probably played a role. He had a reverse platoon split.
2022-23
Flowers had a good year for Altoona, holding opponents to a 227/303/331 line while moving to a relief role. He was extremely consistent; after putting up a 4.05 ERA in April, his monthly ERA varied just from 2.31 to 3.00 every month. His K rate was well down from the previous year, but he finished strongly in that regard. In the last two months of the season, Flowers had a 2.42 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 10.0 K/9. He had only a minor platoon split. Flowers frequently worked 2-3 innings, but sometimes just pitching in late-inning roles. He’s evolved into a strong groundball pitcher.
Flowers followed the encouraging 2022 season with a disastrous 2023 one. Pitching for Indianapolis, he couldn’t throw strikes and got hammered when he did. Opponents hit 344/449/547 against him and he didn’t have a single good month. Flowers walked 7.6 per nine innings.
Stats
Transactions
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.