Kyle

Stowers

No setback has been reported for Stowers with his hamstring, and this is probably just about the Marlins facing a tough lefty tonight and some desire to ease him back into action. Fellow left-handed bats Jakob Marsee, Owen Caissie and Joe Mack are also sitting against Boston’s Payton Tolle tonight.

Stowers is at first base and hitting third for Monday’s series opener against the Red Sox after missing just over two weeks with a left hamstring strain. The 28-year-old has hit just .242/.327/.462 with 44 runs scored, 16 homers, 52 RBI and one steal across 399 plate appearances this season. He figures to spend the majority of the final five weeks at the cold corner for Miami.

This is a surprise, as there hadn’t really been any news on Stowers since he went on the IL with a hamstring strain on Aug. 11. Deyvison De Los Santos will return to Triple-A to make room for Stowers. Agustín Ramírez will likely lose some playing time.

This seemed inevitable after Stowers limped off the field on Sunday. Stowers told reporters that this injury feels similar to the strain he had earlier in the season with his other hamstring. That injury sidelined him for a little under a month, so Stowers could return by the early part of September if this plays out similarly.

Stowers appeared to suffer the injury while rounding first base on a single. He tripled earlier in the game. He’ll head for further evaluation to determine the severity of the issue. Stowers missed time with a right hamstring strain earlier in the season.

The Marlins squandered too many opportunities in this razor-thin loss to the Angels. Despite 12 hits and drawing five walks, they could only push across three runs. Stowers did all he could though, putting up his third four-hit game since mid-June and reaching base five times for the first time since last July. He’s now up to a .241 batting average and .785 OPS as he’s all but erased a disastrous first few months of the season.

There were some rumblings that Stowers could potentially be on the move ahead of the trade deadline, but that appears unlikely at this juncture. Anything is possible, but Stowers is probably going to stay in Miami after they moved backstop Liam Hicks earlier in the day.

The story from Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon suggests that Stowers and Hicks are more likely that Otto Lopez or Xavier Edwards to get traded prior to Monday’s deadline. With his strikeout rate up to 32 percent, Stowers is hitting .237/.322/.465 this season, a big drop from last year’s .288/.368/.544 line. Still, he generates excellent bat speed with a rather short swing, and he’s currently making the minimum while not being eligible for free agency until after 2029.

There’s on fire, then there’s whatever Kyle Stowers has been lately. He blasted a 417 foot homer here which was his second in as many days and fourth over his last six games. That brought his total up to nine in July as he’s spent most of the last six weeks blazing hot following a poor start to his season. To illustrate this, Stowers had a .659 OPS back on June 15th. After this game, he’s up to a .788 OPS and it feels like that number will keep climbing.

Stowers drew a two-out walk off of Nolan McLean in the opening inning but wound up stranded at first base. He then walloped a 368-foot (112.8-mph EV) solo shot off of Nolan McLean in the fourth inning to open the scoring in the contest. For the season, the 28-year-old slugger is now slashing .233/.319/.454 with 15 homers and 47 RBI in 361 plate appearances.