Instead, he was dominant in nine games, throwing 32⅔ innings and striking out 39 batters with a tiny 0.673 WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched). It was enough to pique the Blue Jays’ interest just before Rowley had to take a leave of absence to fulfill his military commitment.
“I’ll tell you what, the guy had some crazy numbers that first year in the G.C.L.,” Toronto catcher Danny Jansen said. “Sinker, slider, I remember being behind the plate for almost all of them and he was a lot of fun to catch. It was fascinating because from West Point that doesn’t happen.”
Rowley was deployed to Bulgaria after Russia invaded Crimea, a precursor to the war in Ukraine, and spent most of 2015 there. He was assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve with a primary goal, he said, of “shaping the battlefield to keep our guys safe.”
There was a heavy Russian influence in Bulgaria, Rowley said, and though he did not see combat, he was physically assaulted in Sofia, the capital, “by a man who very clearly identified me as an American.”
After missing the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Rowley, with the approval of his battalion brigade commanders, submitted a resignation of his active duty commission. It was “based on the premise that we were overstaffed, and I felt my service could be better allocated pursuing a professional baseball career,” Rowley said.
During his time in active service, he kept his arm in shape by throwing with one of his old Army teammates. He had not been able to throw from a mound for two years, but he had a good spring in 2016 and a year later, on Aug. 12, 2017, he got his call-up to Toronto and proceeded to hold Pittsburgh to one run over five and a third innings as the Blue Jays beat the Pirates, 7-2, in front of 46,179 at Rogers Centre.
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