FORT MYERS, Fla. -- This is the seventh and potentially final spring training for Michael Bowden as a member of the Red Sox. Now 25, Bowden is at a crossroads with the organization that selected him with the 47th overall pick of the 2005 draft.

Once a top-ranked prospect in the Sox system whose big league debut in 2008 was viewed as a likely harbinger of a long career as a key Red Sox pitcher, there have been times when he's become a forgotten man. Bowden has been called up 11 times over the last four seasons. But he is now out of options, meaning that the Sox cannot stash the reliever back in Pawtucket without subjecting him to waivers and giving the other 29 teams a chance to claim him.

Multiple teams have been intrigued by Bowden in recent years, and so it would seem that the Sox have a choice: Keep Bowden in the majors, or let him leave the organization (whether via trade or another team’s waiver claim) and move forward.

Bowden cannot dictate the Sox’ decision. If he could have done so, after all, he likely would not have been in this position, and instead would have already established himself in the major leagues, rather than wondering what more he could have done to get there.

In these past four years of roundtrips between Boston and Pawtucket, Bowden has had consistently strong performances, with a 3.27 ERA in Triple-A in that time. Every season or offseason, he has sought some improvement to further his chances of getting a shot at the majors, whether transitioning from a curveball to a slider, developing a cutter to get in on left-handed hitters, going to Venezuela to develop a routine as a reliever or, this past offseason, developing a split-finger fastball as a weapon that he can use away from left-handed hitters, something he needed given his inability to master a changeup.

“I started fiddling with it at the end of last year, just playing catch. I never threw it off a mound. But it was kind of my offseason project,” said Bowden. “I’ve been playing long enough, working on my changeup for seven years. It doesn’t work. This game’s all about feel, so I finally found something I can rip and grip. My arm speed’s there. It has good action. I think it’s going to be a good pitch for me.

“That’s the beauty of this game,” Bowden added. “You can never be content. You’re always working on something.”

That is the attitude that has endeared Bowden to many in the organization since he was drafted out of high school. He always has been considered one of the hardest workers in the system, someone who requires no external push in his quest for constant improvement.

He has shown a relentless desire to get to the big leagues and, once there, to establish himself as a valuable contributor. There is undoubtedly some frustration in the fact that he has yet to do so, but Bowden insists that he understands how the business of baseball works.

“I kind of knew what I was in for,” said Bowden. “It’s a fun game. Even at the Triple-A level, I’m still playing baseball. As long as I can stay healthy and throw a baseball, I’m doing what I love.”

That said, Bowden is clearly driven to stake his place at the game’s highest level. There are others who believe he is ready to do so.

Bowden does have advocates in the organization; there are many who would like to see him get an opportunity to assume a real big league role with the team that made him a sandwich pick in the 2005 draft. Some of those same backers did acknowledge through the years that, over the course of brief callups, it had been difficult for Bowden to gain the trust of manager Terry Francona, someone whose bullpen circle of trust could be difficult to penetrate.

Even last year, when Bowden held right-handed hitters to a .121 average in Triple-A, he was used in his 14 big league appearances solely in blowouts, entering games when they were spread out by an average of nearly seven runs. Despite bullpens that needed reinforcements in both 2010 and 2011, Bowden never received an extended look.

And so, the words uttered by new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine on Friday night -- when Bowden retired all three Pirates hitters he faced, extending his spring streak of consecutive batters retired (if one includes his six-up, six-down performance against Northeastern this spring) to 14, with five strikeouts -- represented reason for Bowden to have newfound hope about the opportunity he faces.

“I really like Michael Bowden,” said Valentine. “His fastball was down in the zone. ... When it was down in the zone he had a good split working off of it. His split, again, from the side, but I have a pretty good perspective of things, I think, it looked like it was a pitch that was very hard to recognize. I liked what I saw. He’s going to get more quality innings, move up in the game a little.”

The idea that Valentine is looking for opportunities to see more of Bowden underscored that this is a spring of renewed opportunity. That the new Sox manager is trying to find ways to evaluate Bowden against top opposing hitters (rather than lower-level minor leaguers who tend to enter the later innings of exhibition games) is significant.

“It’s where I want to be. That’s exactly where I want to be. I don’t want to be throwing ‘B’ games. I want to be going out there and showing them what I can do,” said Bowden.

Asked whether he was benefitting from an opportunity to be seen by fresh eyes with the arrival of Valentine and pitching coach Bob McClure, Bowden did not hesitate.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. I feel more comfortable now at the big league level, with this staff, than I have in my career. I’ll stop there,” he said. “There’s some new faces around, and I already feel very comfortable -- much more comfortable than I have in the past.”

The combination of new decision-makers in the Red Sox organization and his out-of-options status means that Bowden now has perhaps the greatest opportunity of his career to secure a meaningful role in the big leagues.

It is a crossroads spring. Bowden is at the point where, if he is a major league caliber pitcher, he will be in the major leagues, rather than representing a minor league insurance option.

There are no guarantees for the 25-year-old. Even so, Bowden is well aware of the situation that he now faces, and eager for the chance to prove that it is his time to become a big league contributor.

“I feel I’ve had major league stuff for a while now. I’m in a good position, and I’m going to take advantage of that position. Unfortunately, it came down to being because I was out of options,” said Bowden. “[But] I’m very happy with where I’m at. I’m glad I’m out of options. Hopefully I get an opportunity at the big league level, a consistent opportunity to show what I can do. I’m very confident I can go up there and help the ballclub.

“I feel like I can help this team. I want them to believe that. I’m doing everything I can to make them believe that.”