MIAMI -- The Marlins got back an important reinforcement sooner than expected, reinstating Kyle Stowers from the 10-day injured list ahead of Monday's series opener against the Red Sox at loanDepot park. He started at first base and hit third in the lineup.
Stowers, who landed on the IL with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain on Aug. 11 (retroactive to Aug. 10), came up limping and holding the back of his leg while rounding first base on a two-run single in the fifth inning of Miami's Aug. 9 game. In Stowers' most recent status update on Friday, it was revealed that a return-to-play timeline would be made the week of Aug. 24.
Though Stowers did not go on rehab assignment, he was able to hit off a spin ball machine to recreate game-like pitch shapes. It also helped that he didn't need to have a full swing progression.
"At first when it happened symptom-wise, I thought I was worse than what I did in spring," said Stowers, who spent time in a hyperbaric chamber for recovery. "But I think with the injury being more in the part of the muscle, kind of made it a little bit easier or heal faster, I should say, than the last. [I was] fully ramped up from a baseball standpoint. Last time, [I] hadn't had a Spring Training."
Earlier this season, Stowers dealt with a right hamstring strain twice during Spring Training, forcing him to start the season on the 10-day IL and make his debut on April 19 after a five-game assignment with Triple-A Jacksonville.
At the time of this latest injury, Stowers had 13 homers, an .867 OPS and 41 RBIs in 57 games since June 1. He also had turned into the club’s regular first baseman -- a position he hadn't played in his professional career. In his absence, Griffin Conine started seven of the 12 games, followed by Leo Jiménez (three starts), Graham Pauley and rookie Deyvison De Los Santos (one apiece).
"He's someone that I'm sure other teams are going to circle, you're going to know when he's coming up, and then all the production," manager Clayton McCullough said. "He was unfortunately on such a good roll there, when the the hamstring went. So hopefully he can pick that back up. But just having him back in the lineup again, how much that lengthens it out, and it's going to give me more options whether it's starting the game or having some different guys maybe coming off the bench on certain days as well in a moment. Hard to state how important Kyle is, not just the production, but then certainly also having him in there and how that spreads other guys out."
De Los Santos, who went 1-for-2 as the Marlins' first baseman on Sunday, was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville as the corresponding roster move for Stowers.