THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,804 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,804 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
Showcase  | Story | 12/28/2020

SoCal's Bowen: Let's play ball!

Jeff Dahn
Photo: Karson Bowen (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – When a national health crisis mandates that baseball can’t be played in your own backyard, the best course of action is to grab your bats, gloves and spikes and make yourself at home in someone else’s backyard. And that’s exactly what top 2022 California catcher prospect Karson Bowen has done for the last six months.

More than 860 prospects from the prep classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 arrived en masse at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex early Monday morning willing and eager to get things started at the 19th annual Perfect Game National Underclass Showcase-Main Event.



And right there as perhaps the most willing and eager was Bowen, a baseball-loving kid from Anaheim Hills, Calif., and a junior at national prep powerhouse Orange (Calif.) Lutheran High School. Bowen is also a TCU commit who came into this week’s PG National Under-Main as the nation’s No. 51-ranked overall prospect in his class, which makes him the highest ranked 2022 in attendance.

“California is still shutdown so I’m just here to play baseball,” Bowen told PG on Monday shortly after completing his workout routine on a jetBlue Park complex backfield. “I’m trying to play as much as I can because we don’t know when California is going open back up; I’m just trying to play as much as possible.”

His appearance here is just further evidence of how committed Bowen’s been to record as much playing time as circumstances have allowed over these last nine months of 2020. It’s a late Christmas gift that has come courtesy of Guerry Baldwin and the East Cobb Astros program, and no gift has ever been more appreciated.

Bowen, a regular competitor with the Huntington Beach-based GBG Renegades, had connected with the EC Astros program as a 13u player a few years back and early association opened dozens of doors for him this past summer. It was really the only route for him to take while his home state remains in a virtual lockdown due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

When Karson’s parents, David and Kris Bowen, first learned of the PG Under-Main Event and its place on the calendar – as well as Baldwin’s strong association with the event – they hoped to make this happen. They also liked that it would provide their youngest son with yet another excellent opportunity to perform on a national – albeit somewhat crowded – stage.

“We can’t play in California right now so anything we can do to get on the field is where we’re going to go,” Kris Bowen told PG on Monday. “And honestly, we also love the fields and we love Florida; it’s great weather right now.”

It was a beautiful day across Lee County Monday, with sunny skies, a light breeze and temperatures that climbed into the upper-70s. Conditions like those can leave just about every young prospect with an extra bounce in his step, especially when they’re being experienced during the last week of December.

Bowen found that extra bounce during Monday morning’s workout session. He threw 81 mph from behind the plate to second base, a velo that tied for the second-best effort of the day; his Pop time of 1.89-seconds was the day’s sixth-best effort but just .03-seconds off the event-best 1.86 produced by Evans, Ga.’s 2022 David Bell.

People everywhere have had to make radical adjustments to their routines over the last nine months but the fine folks in California have seemed to be hit the hardest during both waves of the unrelenting pandemic.

By attending Orange Lutheran, Karson Bowen is a member of one of the top high school programs in the entire country. Under the direction of head coach Eric Borba, the Lancers won three straight USA Baseball National High School Invitational championships from 2016-18 and were poised to make it four in a row until this year’s NHSI was cancelled by COVID-19.

“The baseball there and in the whole area is just so good; it’s like it’s just a bunch of ‘bred’ baseball players,” Bowen said. “Pretty much by living there you grow up being a good baseball player, along with everybody else.”

But even good baseball players aren’t able to play during a pandemic, at least not at the high school level.

According to Kris, the Bowens had formed a relationship with East Cobb’s Wes Etheridge, who had coached Karson when he played with the East Cobb Astros 13u at the 2018 PG 13u World Series in Cartersville, Ga.

Etheridge was able to help Karson find a spot on Baldwin’s powerhouse EC Astros 16u Texas Orange Squad this summer. It was a partnership made in heaven as Bowen earned all-tournament recognition three times while playing with the EC Astros 16u Texas Orange. (He also played with East Cobb Baseball at the PG WWBA World Championship here in Fort Myers in October and earned all-tournament recognition).

“Guerry has been really huge this summer letting me come out and play all the time,” Karson said. “He’s been helping with everything like getting me in front of the people that I need to be in front of. Getting to play with the Astros all summer, it’s been a lot of fun.”

And it’s certainly not as if Bowen was walking into a group of unfamiliar faces when he arrived at the jetBlue Park complex early Monday morning. He is a member of the PG Orange team, Guerry Baldwin’s top-prospect laden entry that is annually a top draw at the Under-Main Event.

Bowen is joined on the roster by fellow 2022s in Hartselle, Ala., righthander Elliott Bray (No. 363, Auburn) and Winston, Ga., outfielder Chandler Pollard (No. 389, uncommitted).

More conspicuous are the 2023s who are onboard, dudes like Cedartown, Ga., shortstop Dylan Cupp (No. 17, Mississippi State), Atlanta shortstop Antonio Anderson (No. 19, uncommitted), Hoover, Ala. Third baseman Walter Ford (No. 21, Alabama) and Woodstock, Ga., outfielder John Cooper Williams (No. 30, uncommitted).

“It’s just awesome; it’s always a good reunion,” Bowen said. “I haven’t seen them in a few months because of the holidays – we just took a break – so it’s always good to get back out here with them.”

Added Kris: “Even though we’re not playing in California, it’s great to have family outside of California and this is our family now.”

It makes it especially good because this East Cobb Astros 16u Texas Orange team did a lot of winning together in 2020, claiming five PG WWBA championships over the summer; those included national titles at the PG 16u National Elite Championship and the PG 16u World Series.

“It’s been everything that I could have hoped for,” Bowen said, “and who doesn’t want to win. … Being around good players always helps. You want to be better than them and you also want to help them win; you just want to play good.”

David Bowen, Karson’s dad, played football at San Jose State and Karson also played football and basketball until recently before deciding to concentrate his efforts on baseball.

Shortstop was his position of choice in his early years on the youth level but that changed when he was about 8 years old. David was coaching the team at that time and none of  the other youngsters wanted to catch so dad told son, in so many words, “Get back there, you’re all we’ve got.”

It’s a position change that’s worked out pretty well. Bowen entered the Under-Main as the No. 4-ranked catcher in the national class of 2022 and No. 2 in California. David did play baseball at the prep level before moving on to play college football and Karson said his dad played an over-sized role in his early development.

“My dad has been huge; I hit with him every day,” Bowen said. “He was a good athlete and he knows all the athletic stuff and over the years he’s learned a bunch about hitting and catching and throwing.”

The PG National Under-Main is not Karson Bowen’s first showcase experience, either. He was included on the Top Prospect List at the 2018 PG 14u West Showcase, the 2019 PG 14u National Showcase and at this year’s PG West Coast Top Prospect Games.

His performance at the PG 14u National earned Bowen an invitation to the 2019 PG 14u Select Baseball Festival, also in Fort Myers, and he began to feel the glow of the national spotlight for the first time in his young career.

“That’s probably my favorite PG event that I’ve ever been to; it was just so fun,” he said. “They took care of us and I got to play at jetBlue (Park) so it was awesome.”

Bowen has also been active in USA Baseball, playing for the 15u US National Team in 2018 and the 15u US National Team in 2019; he was the starting catcher in all eight games for the Gold Medal-winning 15u team and led the team with nine RBI and 11 total bases.

But it was on the PG travel ball circuit this summer where Bowen really shined. Hitting from the right side, he played in 37 games and hit .293 (22-for-75) with nine extra-base hits – including three triples – 22 runs, 22 RBI, a .485 OBP and 12 stolen bases.

Kris Bowen told PG that she really enjoys the social aspect of travel baseball, how it leads to new friendships and long-lasting relationships between not only the players and their peers but the families as well.

It also requires the young players to become disciplined in their everyday lives, making sure they eat properly and get plenty of sleep while maintaining the highest levels of physical and mental toughness. That’s a tall order for anyone, let alone a 16-year-old high school junior.

But Karson has done well in this pursuit so far and shows no sign of slowing down. As Kris Bowen said, she feels it’s important for these young guys to not only continue learning but to continue to give back and teach the younger kids who are coming up behind them the proper ins-and-outs. It’s not all about the friendships, she said, but what you’re getting out of it and what you’re putting back into it.

Bowen is listed at 5-feet-11, 210 pounds and considered a very good defensive catcher. He has also committed to play for coach Jim Schlossnagle at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, which seems to fit his personality.

He is, according to his mom, an avid fisherman, so maybe getting out of Orange County, Calif., will also give him an opportunity to head out to one of the dozens of lakes that surround the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“Going to TCU, that was a huge decision for me and my family and it was a great opportunity; it was everything I wanted,”  he said. “They have (a) good baseball (program) – they win – good school, good business program. It’s right in Dallas and I’m a big Cowboys fan so it all works out.”

On the baseball side of things, Bowen likes to cheer on his hometown Angels and superstar Mike Trout, among others; the family has season tickets to the Angels and is hopeful they might even get a chance to use them in 2021.

Karson Bowen is saying good riddance to a challenging 2020 and ringing in 2021 by soaking in everything that comes with being involved with the PG National Underclass-Main Event. He feels encouraged that Orange Lutheran will have a season this spring and he bases that on the fact that the school just released its 2021 schedule – local health officials will have the final say, of course.

But now is the time for fun in the sun and for using the experience to gain knowledge of yourself and those around you.

“At this event, there’s a lot of people here; there’s a lot of really good kids here,” Kris said. “You want your kid to walk away knowing that they did their best but also to stay humble. We really work on, are we staying humble, are we helping other people? You might be ranked the highest but that doesn’t mean that will last.

“Rankings don’t necessarily always mean that’s where you are in life. You still have to be a good person, a good son, a good brother; there are other things. So we try to balance that out and it’s important to us that you stay well-rounded.”

One of these days, hopefully very soon, young California standouts will be able to play in their own backyards again. In the meantime, top prospects like Karson Bowen will live by the mantra, “Have ball, will travel.”
Give us your feedback
Showcase | Story | 1/6/2026

PG Leaderboard: Class of 2027
Jheremy Brown
Article Image
Complete PG Leaderboard Database PG Leaderboard: Class of 2026 To think this group still has another two years of high school is a scary thought given what some of the category leaders already are. Samir Mohammed up to 97 mph on the mound, Bryce Fontenot with a max exit velocity of 103 mph and a 6.22 60-yard out of Dylan Seward are all otherworldly numbers that you'd expect to find on a college campus, much less a junior in high school.  Below we check in on several categories for the Class of 2027 and will continue to do so through the week, taking in the top 10 for each, from both Perfect Game showcases and tournaments.  Top Fastball Velocity Rk Player FB Event Commitment School Hometown 1 Samir Mohammed 97 2025 PG WWBA World Championship Louisiana State Tampa Jesuit Trinity, FL 2 Connor Salerno 96 2025 PG WWBA World Championship Mississippi State Sun Valley Indian Trail, NC...
Read More
High School | General | 1/31/2026

Preseason HS Top 50

Tyler Russo
Article Image
The start of another high school season is right around the corner in a handful of states and with that, as always, comes our Preseason High School Top-50. A whopping twenty states are represented in the initial Top-50, a number that is staggering when you look at the amount of depth some of these rosters have across the nation. Leading the group is St. John Bosco (CA), a team that brought home a CIF Southern D1 title in 2025 and bring back a strong group of seniors to look to repeat. Stoneman Douglas (FL) is a name most people should know by now in the high school ranks and comes in as our preseason #2 team, looking to win their sixth straight state championship in Florida. Orange Lutheran (CA) had a good case for preseason #1 but come it an No. 3, bringing a roster with seven seniors ranked inside the top-200 in the country to the table. Four other Florida schools are represented...
Read More
Softball | Softball Tournament | 1/30/2026

Perfect Game Burst the Bubble

Dave Durbala
Article Image
BURLINGTON, IA - Perfect Game Softball Burst The Bubble Tournament, January 24 - 25, 2026. 15 teams in  this four game guarantee, pool into bracket play tournament, with both a 16u and 18u division contested. In the 16u Division, it was the 09 Midwest Sluggers claiming the Championship over finalist Wisconsin Heat. In the 18u Division it was CIK 08’s taking home the gold rings over finalist Alliance Select Black. The tournament was filled with lots of young talent with big bats, and several players already committed to higher education programs. Below are some of the players that earned their way onto the tournament top performers list. 16U Division  Earning the tournament MVP award was Ruby Stagg (2028 Bettendorf, IA) a solid fielding SS for tournament champion 09 Midwest Sluggers. Stagg, hitting from the right side, sets up in a conventional stance, slightly wide and...
Read More
Softball | Softball Tournament | 1/30/2026

Perfect Game Winter Blow-Out 18U Division

Erica Beach
Article Image
Perfect Game Winter Blow-Out 18U Division Burlington, Iowa Jan 17-18, 2026   BURLINGTON, IOWA- The 2026 Perfect Game Winter Blowout, held in the Fun City Turf bubble was competitive from start to finish. Seven teams from three states converged to sharpen their skills and compete for the title. In the end, the Iowa Dynamite 18U took home the hardware, defeating the Alliance Select Harper in the finale. There were some very strong performances on both sides of the ball and below we highlight the top performers from the weekend.     Payton Harris (2028, Mediapolis, IA) of the Black Dragons was lights out on the weekend, batting an impressive .733.  She led the entire tournament in hits, 11 in total showing she was one of the most formidable hitters in her class. She showed her power and ability to drive the ball to all fields, belting four home runs and two doubles on...
Read More
College | Story | 1/30/2026

Conference Preview: Big West

Steve Fiorindo
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order*  School W L W L Cal Poly 43 19 23 7 Cal State Bakersfield 18 38 9 21 Cal State Fullerton 29 27 19 11 CSUN 15 34 10 20 Hawai'i 35 21 16 14 Long Beach State 22 31 15 15 UC Davis 27 28 13 17 UC Irvine 43 17 24 6 UC Riverside 16 36 5 25 UC Santa Barbara 36 18 16 14 UC San Diego 26 25 15 15 Preseason All Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Nate Vargas UC Santa Barbara Honorable Mention All Big West performer, posted a 306 average with 10 HR’s and 50 RBI. ...
Read More
High School | General | 1/30/2026

High School Top 50: 10-1

Cam McElwaney
Article Image
High School Preview Index Top 50 Breakdown: 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11 10. IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) 2025 Record: 24-1 Head Coach: Dave Turgeon Notable Prospect(s): C Dillon Moss (Stanford), RHP Michael Ramsey, C Charles Messina (Northwestern), 1B Cy Chrisman (Oklahoma State), SS Dylan Messina (Pennsylvania), RHP Michael Todero (St. Joseph’s), SS Max Hemenway (Tennessee), OF Kyler Meccage (Mississippi State), OF Sebastian Wilson (Tennessee), 1B Frank Thomas III (Auburn), SS Juan Diaz (Florida State), C Ethan Armbruster (Mississippi State), SS Antonio Chavez (University of California, Berkeley), RHP Henry Britt, OF Aiden Choo IMG Academy rattled off an incredible season a year ago, finishing with a 24-1 record, and ended the season being named the national champion. It’s another year in Bradenton with some of the most talented players in...
Read More
College | Story | 1/30/2026

Conference Preview: SWAC

Michael Albee
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order*  Team W L W L Alabama A&M 2 27 10 40 Alabama State 22 10 31 29 Alcorn State 1 29 6 43 Arkansas Pine-Bluff 17 9 19 34 Bethune Cookman 24 5 37 23 Florida A&M 25 5 34 24 Grambling State 18 11 26 28 Jackson State 16 12 30 21 Mississippi Valley State 7 23 12 29 Prairie View A&M 13 14 17 36 Southern 15 14 26 28 Texas Southern 15 15 22 31 Preseason All Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Vinny Saumell Arkansas Pine-Bluff Reliable backstop and offensive...
Read More
Juco | Rankings | 1/29/2026

JUCO: Top 500 Prospects

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
JUCO Preseason Top 50 RK Name Class Pos. School State Commitment 1 Carson Bailey SO LHP McLennan TX 2 Bishop Quarles SO OF Florida Southwestern FL 3 Holden Hering FR RHP Weatherford TX Arkansas 4 Mikhai Grant SO RHP Northwest Florida FL 5 Jimmy Anderson SO SS Heartland IL Kentucky 6 Noah Bentley SO RHP Weatherford TX Oklahoma 7 Hayden Morris SO RHP Blinn TX LSU 8 Collin Smith SO RHP Cochise AZ South Carolina 9 Anthony Quigley SO OF/3B Northwest Florida FL 10 Anson Seibert RS FR RHP Johnson County KS 11 Major Osbolt RS FR RHP Walters State TN LSU 12 Ben Polleschultz SO LHP Blinn TX Texas A&M 13 Peyton Firgens RS FR MIF McLennan TX Mississippi State 14 Garrett Mirel FR LHP Golden West CA North Carolina State 15 Kole Fenton SO SS Walters State TN North Carolina 16 Joseph Sandusky FR SS Weatherford TX Texas A&M 17 Caden Mitchell SO C Weatherford TX Oklahoma 18 Easton Davies SO RHP...
Read More
Press Release | Press Release | 1/28/2026

2026 Pacific Baseball Championship Set

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923  www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    PERFECT GAME ANNOUNCES VENUES, DATES FOR   2026 PACIFIC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP    Elite global talent converges in Southern California, December 26-29, 2026, at the Dodgers’ new ONT Field Stadium and October Empire Complex    Ontario, California (Wednesday, January 28, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced additional details surrounding the 2026 Perfect Game Pacific Baseball Championship (PBC), including official venues, dates and the various nations that players will be coming from,...
Read More
Juco | Rankings | 1/28/2026

JUCO Top 50: January 28

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Welcome to the 2026 Junior College baseball season. Once again, this year will begin for us with annual coverage of the PCB JUCO Classic in Panama City Beach, FL this week. With that we bring you our beginning of season JUCO baseball rankings. Perfect Game JUCO rankings combine all levels of JUCO baseball across the country into one overall ranking.  The top of this year’s beginning of season ranking begins where the D1 NJCAA World Series ended, with Walters State and Salt Lake. Walters State returns several contributing pieces from last season's team and will begin the year in the top spot. Defending D1 JUCO National Champion Salt Lake will slot in at number 2. This list shows the strength of junior college baseball around the country with programs from 16 different state represented in our initial top 25. Six teams from Florida make our initial top 25, four of which will...
Read More
College | Story | 1/29/2026

Conference Preview: Southland

Troy Sutherland
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Southeastern 38 16 22 8 UT- Rio Grande Valley 36 18 22 8 Lamar 40 17 20 10 Northwestern State 35 21 19 11 McNeese 31 17 19 11 Houston Christian 32 23 17 13 TAMU- Corpus Christi 21 31 12 18 New Orleans 28 26 12 18 Nicholls 17 32 10 20 Stephen F. Austin 17 32 9 21 Incarnate Word 17 33 3 27 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Player School Stats/Notes C Julius Ramirez UTRGV Huge numbers at the Juco level as a member of New Mexico JC. Impact stick that will force his way...
Read More
Loading more articles...
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2026 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.