Matt Fowles ’09, MBA ’12, is a pro at making a pitch. A professional marketer and former pitcher in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, Fowles has made pitches in ballparks and board rooms, but none better than one he delivered at spring training earlier this year.
At the time, Fowles was working as director of marketing at Rapsodo Sports, a 10-year-old sports vision technology company that develops optical and radar technology that tracks ball flight.
“On the baseball side, one product Rapsodo developed is the Pro 3.0, which tracks hitting and pitching,” Fowles said. “Someone on our team asked: ‘What if Shohei endorsed our product?’ We had seen that he was using the Pro 3.0 in the offseason.”
Shohei, as in Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, whose star is bound for the stratosphere of the game’s all-time greats. A pitcher, outfielder, base stealer, and prolific home run hitter, Ohtani’s name may be on every fan’s short list of the best ever. Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Williams, Mays, Aaron, Mantle, and Ohtani is not a farfetched example of such a listing.
Fowles, of course, liked the idea, so he and the team approached Ohtani’s agent. There was little interest from the superstar’s camp initially, but Fowles didn’t quit. He approached Rapsodo’s CEO with the idea at a global meeting some months later but was met with skepticism.
“I said, ‘Hey, if you want to grow this company let’s go sign Shohei Ohtani,’” Fowles said.
His idea was rejected again. This time it was the top person at his company who didn’t believe the deal could happen.
“I said, ‘Give me the money, and we’ll get him,’” Fowles said.
And they did.
“We signed him to a long-term deal through his agent, and we got to meet him for a content shoot during spring training back in mid-February,” Fowles said. “I got to spend about an hour and a half with him in Phoenix. He was the consummate pro, easy to work with, and very down to earth.”
For the shoot, Rapsodo put together a simulated baseball stadium with a batter’s box and pitcher’s mound that Fowles thought were amazing for their realism.
“When Shohei saw that setup, he knew we meant business,” Fowles said.
Ohtani stands 6-4, which was not lost on Fowles, who is himself 6-3 and 220 pounds.
“I was surprised at how big a person he is,” Fowles said. “He’s every bit of the height and weight he’s listed at.”
Fowles, 41, played baseball at Illinois State and was drafted by Arizona in the 27th round of the 2005 MLB June Amateur Draft. A right-handed pitcher, he was a starter as a Redbird and a reliever in the minor leagues. He played in 2005 and 2006 and then rehabbed after an elbow injury in 2007 before his professional career ended after spring training in 2008.
Fowles described himself as a “sinker-slider guy who worked the seventh or eighth inning, with a fastball clocked at 90-93 mph.”
After baseball, Fowles returned to Illinois State to finish his undergraduate degree. He stuck around to earn an MBA while working for Redbird Athletics and as a graduate assistant for Dr. Peter Kaufman in the College of Business. He recently visited campus to talk about his career and the Ohtani deal with one of Kaufman’s classes.
Fowles and his wife, Hailey ’09, live in St. Charles, Missouri, with their two young daughters. He still follows the game of baseball. A lifelong Cardinals fan, he’s watching Ohtani and the Dodgers this postseason.
“It’s hard not to root for him,” he said. “It was an honor of a lifetime to work with Shohei, and I wish him the best for sure.”
Redbirds in the MLB postseason: As a member of the Kansas City Royals’ postseason roster, infielder Paul DeJong ’15 is the lone Redbird on a Major League team that is still playing baseball in October. DeJong was traded by the White Sox at the end of July as the Royals were in town playing a series at Guaranteed Rate Field. DeJong simply rounded up his gear and walked across the diamond from one clubhouse to the other. He is being used off the bench with the Royals.
