All-Star OF Stowers (hamstring) to open season on IL

JUPITER, Fla. – Marlins All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers will begin the season on the injured list, the team announced on Sunday morning.

Imaging on Saturday revealed a Grade 1 right hamstring strain. The Marlins will reassess in three to four weeks.

The team also announced that outfielder Esteury Ruiz, whom the Marlins acquired from the Dodgers via trade in December and was battling for a bench spot, will also open the season on the IL due to a high-grade oblique strain. He sustained that injury in Friday night’s split-squad game in Jupiter. Ruiz has a six-to-eight-week timetable for return.

“I think what it means is one, we want to get Kyle healthy,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We all know Kyle's a big part not only on the field and offensively what he brings, but then Kyle's a great teammate and has a lot of great leadership qualities. It's unfortunate. He's bummed out, but also now it's just, ‘Turn the page, Kyle, and let's get healthy. Let's get yourself ready for when you do come back.’

“And [I] told him, like, ‘We'll be OK. We have a lot of good players, and we're going to be fine.’ I know he's disappointed the timing of this thing happening here at the end, he was getting back, but he'll get himself ready, and we'll welcome him with open arms when he returns.”

Stowers, who strained his right hamstring earlier this spring, exited Friday night’s split-squad game against the Astros in West Palm Beach with tightness in the same hamstring in the bottom of the third. He had singled and advanced to second in the top of the frame, then went on contact and felt the tightness while rounding third on Liam Hicks’ popout to end the inning.

When Miami first scratched Stowers from its Feb. 28 lineup, the organization played things carefully after a minor strain diagnosis. Before returning to Grapefruit League action on March 14, Stowers built up a running progression and got live at-bats on the back fields to stay sharp at the plate. Friday marked just his third game back.

The 28-year-old Stowers, who was the subject of extension rumors this offseason, will be missed in the Marlins’ lineup. In a breakout 2025 campaign, he singled to clinch the franchise’s first walk-off victory on Opening Day. By the time August rolled around, when his season prematurely ended due to a left oblique strain, Stowers had knocked 25 homers with 73 RBIs in 117 games and had established himself as one of the National League’s top batters.

Miami went 21-19 the remainder of the season and wasn’t eliminated from postseason contention until the final road series with Stowers shelved.

With Stowers and Ruiz out, the Marlins’ remaining 40-man outfield options with Major League experience are led by Jakob Marsee and Owen Caissie, who project to be the club’s primary center and right fielders, respectively. Fellow left-handed hitter Griffin Conine and right-handed hitting Heriberto Hernández are the other natural outfielders. Gold Glove-winning utility player Javier Sanoja and Christopher Morel, who will be Miami’s primary first baseman, can also play outfield. The Marlins started Connor Norby in left field on Friday to expand his defensive versatility, then put him back out there on Saturday following the injury developments.

If the Marlins are concerned about their outfield depth, veterans Tommy Pham and Jesse Winker are still available on the free-agent market. There’s also Daniel Johnson, who was a non-roster invitee at big league camp, and has 152 career plate appearances from 2020-25. As roster cuts continue league-wide leading up to Opening Day, Miami could also claim someone off waivers.

As of Sunday, Miami had only 12 healthy position players at big league camp. Middle infielder Jared Serna and corner infielder Deyvison De Los Santos, both of whom have yet to make their MLB debuts, are the only other healthy 40-man options. Both were optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville earlier this spring. Marlins No. 9 prospect Kemp Alderman, the organization's reigning Minor League Player of the Year, is not on the 40-man roster but received 29 Grapefruit League plate appearances. The club would be able to clear a 40-man roster spot for him or an external candidate when it places righty Adam Mazur (elbow surgery) on the 60-day IL.

“We'll look to see how that final spot now gets filled whether that's internal or there's still time leading up to the season, if that's an external addition,” McCullough said. “We'll have 13 position players on Friday when we get going, and we feel good about what we have. We feel like we have enough players that have the ability to play multiple spots and can move pieces around whether it's matchups or just how guys are performing, to dictate who gets that playing time.”

This marks the second straight year that the Marlins have lost key position players to injuries during the latter stages of camp. Both Norby and outfielder Jesús Sánchez opened the season on the IL with left oblique strains in March 2025.