If not for a Mother's Day gift with unintended consequences, Michael Bowden's major-league debut today might not have been with the Red Sox.

The right-hander, who will start today at Fenway Park against the White Sox, stood out as one of the best high school pitchers entering the 2005 scouting season, a draft in which the Red Sox possessed five of the first 47 picks.

Yet even with that wealth of picks, it seemed unlikely at the time that he would be targeted by Boston. In the prior two drafts under G.M. Theo Epstein, the Sox had focused their picks on college players to restock the upper levels of a depleted farm system. The team had not picked a high-school hurler before the 12th round of either the 2003 or 2004 drafts, a reflection of the high-risk profile of such players.

But as Boston began preparations for the 2005 draft, Midwest cross-checker Danny Haas made an impassioned case for a broader approach. Bowden, Haas insisted, represented a special talent who deserved the organization's attention.

“(Haas) wrote an eight-page manifesto about why he was the exception and was worthy of being a first-round consideration for a high-school righty,” said Epstein. “He rang the bell early on. A lot of our scouts went in, saw him and were impressed.

“You kind of had the full arsenal of qualities we were looking for: stuff, advanced feel for at least three different pitches at the time, good body and makeup. It was all there. We had a strong conviction on him.”

That conviction was a byproduct of an incredibly thorough scouting effort. Terry Sullivan, a Midwest scouting consultant for the Sox, attended all of the senior's starts for Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Ill., that year. He was frequently joined by Haas. Scouting director Jason McLeod flew in to witness a 19-strikeout perfect game that he described as the best high-school game he's ever seen.

The Sox, however, were not alone in their interest in the Chicago-area phenom. Each of his outings was a must-see event for dozens of evaluators.

The perfect game generated a buzz that led flocks of scouting directors to descend upon Bowden's next start. Yet in a season when he went 8-1 with a 0.59 ERA, Bowden laid an egg in front of his largest audience.

A pitcher whose fastball typically sat at 91-92 m.p.h. and touched as high as 94 instead absorbed his lone defeat of the season while rarely exceeding the mid-80s. Rumors of an arm injury swirled among the cross-checkers and scouting directors who were at the start. Some teams backed off of Bowden, categorizing him as just another risky prep pitcher. 

Yet instead of walking away, the Sox investigated. They made a most unexpected discovery about the source of the pitcher's diminished stuff.

Bowden's suburban Chicago home was accessed by a quarter-mile gravel road. As a Mother's Day present that year, he filled a dump truck with pebbles and shoveled them out to smooth the pot holes that led to his residence.

Unsurprisingly, when he took the hill two days later, Bowden's body was in a state of tremendous fatigue, leading to the only clunker of his senior season. By the time his next start arrived, he was once again throwing in the low-90s with a power curve and a usable changeup.

He was overmatching his competition. The Sox were sold.

“(Haas) had done a good job of painting the bigger picture of what the player was all about,” said Epstein. “It became more of an opportunity than a problem, that one game.”

Bowden, who at one point seemed like a mid- to late-first rounder, was still available when the Sox made their fifth selection, the 47th overall that year. It took little time for the pitcher to validate the selection.

Current Sox farm director Mike Hazen came to Boston from Cleveland in the winter following the 2005 season. He knew little of Bowden, but it became obvious that the organization held the pitcher in high regard, and Hazen would soon find out why.

“You'd hear the name over and over and over,” said Hazen. “I don't think I knew what we were doing when we sent him to (Greenville of the Single-A) South Atlantic League as a 19-year-old. In retrospect, it looks like a good move.

“He got off to a little bit of a rough start there, but what we've seen is an ability to make adjustments so quickly at that level, at the Double-A level and now at the Triple-A level. It's been pretty remarkable.”

Bowden concluded that first full pro season with a 9-6 record and 3.51 ERA. That season began a three-year run of excellence that has seen the 6-foot-3 hurler blitz through the Boston farm system. He has gone 20-13 with a 3.15 ERA, 389 strikeouts and just 106 walks in 406 innings in the minors.

This year, he forged a 9-4 record and 2.33 ERA for Double-A Portland before going a misleading 0-3 with a 3.38 ERA since a July promotion to Triple-A. He has delivered four straight quality starts, producing a 2.22 ERA this month.

Team officials laud Bowden's fastball command to both sides of the plate, and say that his curveball and changeup have both made progress this season. His makeup receives even more raves.

Mike Cather, the Portland pitching coach, described his former protegee as “the hardest worker around—flat out,” noting that the SeaDogs trainer would sometimes have to kick Bowden out of the weight room. That approach is part of the pitcher's commitment to constant improvement, a pursuit that has helped the pitcher to adjust and succeed as he moved up the ladder.

“I feel like every time I go out there, I learn. I try not to make the same mistakes,” Bowden said earlier this month. “Every outing I go out with a bit more knowledge than my previous start. I think that's the biggest thing. I'm personally starting to grasp a lot about my game, honing it, making adjustments, repeating my delivery. I just think that's a very big step for me.”

Because the 21-year-old has shown a remarkable ability to adjust quickly to his new surroundings, he became a logical candidate for his big-league unveiling today. He becomes the fifth member of the vaunted Red Sox draft class of 2005 to reach the majors less than three years after his selection, following Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, Clay Buchholz and Jed Lowrie.

That occurrence is in no small part because of an act of kindness that Bowden committed on a Mother's Day that is not forgotten.

“My mom still doesn't let me hear the end of it,” said Bowden. “She always gets really upset about that because she knows it might have affected some teams. But I'm so happy with the way it worked out. I wouldn't be (in Boston) if it hadn't.”

Alex Speier is a Senior Writer for WEEI.com.