Charlotte Christian High School in North Carolina has some impressive alumni in the world of sports. If you want to start with basketball, Seth and Steph Curry went to the school. Daniel Bard and his younger brother, former Twins first-round pick Luke Bard, went to the private school. Former Vikings center Garrett Bradbury started on the gridiron and the baseball field for the Knights. He was a legit power-hitting catcher prospect. In 2013, he found himself catching future Twins starter Bailey Ober. 

And now the newest member of the Twins organization was a sophomore on that 2013 Charlotte Christian Knights baseball team. On Tuesday afternoon, the Twins claimed right-handed pitcher Jackson Kowar from the Seattle Mariners. They had DFAd him when they acquired Jhonny Pereda from the Twins last week. 

Bradbury went to North Carolina State and played football. Wise choice for him. Ober went to the College of Charleston where he was a freshman All American and a 2017 draft pick. Kowar was the top prospect of the group. In 2015, he was drafted by the Tigers but instead went to the University of Florida. 

In 2018, the Royals used their first five draft picks on college pitchers. Their first pick (18th overall) was fellow Gators starter Brady Singer. Kowar was the 33rd overall pick. One pick later, they took Daniel Lynch out of the University of Virginia. With the 40th pick (another Competitive Balance pick), the selected lefty Kris Bubic from Stanford. Their second-round pick (58th overall) was Jonathan Bowlan from the University of Memphis. 

Things haven’t gone easily for any of those picks. Singer has had a solid career; He’s been work at least 3.0 bWAR in three of the past four seasons. He spent five seasons with the Royals before getting traded to Cincinnati for Jonathan India. Lynch made 51 starts for the Royals between 2021 and 2023. The past two seasons, he has pitched in 68 games out of the Royals bullpen. Bubic has spent parts of the past six seasons with the Royals. He missed significant time in 2023 and 2024 due to Tommy John, but he’s been really good since returning, a new pitcher. He made the All-Star team in 2025 and posted a 2.55 ERA over 116 1/3 innings. Bowlan pitched in three games for the Royals between 2023 and 2024. In 2025, he worked in 34 games, all but one out of the bullpen. In December, he was traded to the Phillies for Matt Strahm. 

While his upside and talent were as high as any college pitchers from that 2018 draft, Jackson Kowar has been unable to find any sustained success in the big leagues. He debuted with eight starts and a relief appearance in 2021. He went 0-6 with an 11.27 ERA. In 2022, he pitched in seven games out of the bullpen and posted a 9.77 ERA. In 23 games in 2023, he went 2-0 despite a 6.43 ERA. He missed the entire 2024 season after Tommy John surgery. He returned in 2025 with the Mariners. In 15 games, he posted a solid 4.24 ERA. Combined in 54 MLB games and 91 innings, he has an 8.21 ERA, a 1.93 WHIP. 8.9 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9. 

Kowar has always thrown hard. Before the injury, his fastball averaged 95-96 mph. That jumped to 96.9 mph in 2023. Upon his return in 2025, he averaged 97.3 mph with the fastball. He threw more fastballs in 2025, and he also threw more sliders where came in at an average of 86.2 mph. Previously, he had always thrown between 30 and 43% changeups. The Mariners had him nearly completely drop the pitch (threw it just 5% of the time). 

With the addition of Kowar, the Twins 40-man roster is full.Â