Could Stowers be a 1B option for Marlins upon return from IL?

MIAMI – Kyle Stowers might see an occasional position change once he returns from the injured list.

Stowers, who was an All-Star and a National League Gold Glove finalist in left field in 2025, took part in first-base base drills prior to Tuesday and Wednesday's games at loanDepot park. He also shagged fly balls.

"It's definitely a possibility," manager Clayton McCullough said. "I spoke with Kyle about this in November, over the offseason, that as much I value and we do as an organization, positional flexibility and optionality, Kyle potentially had a skill set to maybe do that. It wasn't about this year being a full-time first baseman [or] we're looking to transition. But I think as much just over the course of the year, if [it's] something you can pull off, it's a day to get you in some ways, kind of off your feet, a little bit a different type of workload over there, or within a game."

Should Miami move Stowers to first base every so often, it could serve several benefits.

Since Christopher Morel’s ill-timed left oblique strain hours before Opening Day, the Marlins have already used four first basemen: Connor Norby (nine starts), Liam Hicks (one), Graham Pauley (one) and Deyvison De Los Santos (one). Norby had never played the position before until appearing there a couple of times this spring. Hicks is a catcher by trade, and Pauley is one of the Majors’ top defensive third basemen. Prospect De Los Santos is back at Triple-A Jacksonville for regular playing time.

Entering Wednesday, that quartet has combined for an .806 OPS while serving as the club's first baseman.

Miami also has a crowded outfield, with center fielder Jakob Marsee and corner outfielders Owen Caissie, Griffin Conine, Heriberto Hernández and Austin Slater. By playing Stowers at first base, the Marlins could strengthen their lineup against right-handed starters by inserting an extra lefty in there to go along with an all-lefty outfield of Marsee, Caissie and Conine.

"Not knowing what our roster was going to look like at the outset of the season, I don't know what it's going to look like a few weeks from now, a few months from now," McCullough said. "We have skilled players trying to look for any possible way that they can be utilized to help us win games. It's advantageous for myself and also for the player. You're just a more attractive player if you have the ability to do multiple things."

Sidelined by a Grade 1 right hamstring strain since the final weekend of Spring Training after previously missing time earlier in camp with a similar injury, Stowers could use first base as a way to keep his legs fresh. He is trending toward a rehab assignment with Triple-A Jacksonville this weekend while the big league club heads to Detroit for a three-game series against the Tigers. McCullough hinted that there's a possibility Stowers plays first base while rehabbing.

The 28-year-old Stowers has never played first base in professional baseball, but he did so 24 times between collegiate summer ball teams and Stanford from 2017-19. As one of three 2025 NL Gold Glove finalists in left field, Stowers recorded two defensive runs saved, five assists, one error and -1 outs above average.

"For him, physically, is it a way, over the course of a season, to take a little bit off of him by maybe get him a start at first base?" McCullough questioned. "I think that's a possibility. Again, I want to keep Kyle in games. What we have not starting that day, we have some really good outfielders that I think would help us hold on to a lead. It's a way to maybe keep him in in games as well. So I don't know what eventually this looks like, and how much even comes to fruition.

"I'd hate to be here in May and wonder, like, 'Hey, Kyle, do you think you could do this?' I think it would be a little unfair to try to spring that. So we talked about it in the offseason. Unfortunately, with the setback he had in spring, and he probably didn't get as many reps and some time there. But that's all right. He's been able to get some work in, and we'll see where it goes."