JUPITER, Fla. – Imaging revealed a "very minor" right hamstring strain for Marlins All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers, according to manager Clayton McCullough.
Stowers, who was scratched from the Grapefruit League lineup of Saturday's 10-2 loss to the Cardinals, has a one-to-two-week timetable for return to play.
"It was a good diagnosis," McCullough said. "We anticipate that in a few days we'll get him at-bats on the back fields and live [batting practices] and pitch designs, so he'll be able to get at-bats as he continues to get back into full-game shape."
Before the imaging results, McCullough said that Stowers couldn’t pinpoint a specific incident when he began experiencing the hamstring tightness.
“This time of camp, and when you get into it and start stacking up some of the volume, he just felt a little bit of tightness,” McCullough said, “and I appreciate Kyle for being up front with that, especially with where we are. It's not worth trying to push through, really anything, even if it appears minor. We can do our best to try to get it knocked out, find out what's going on, and there's still plenty of time and ways to get plate appearances before the season gets going.”
The 28-year-old Stowers had appeared in three Grapefruit League games so far this spring, most recently on Thursday in Dunedin, Fla., against the Blue Jays, with nine plate appearances.
Stowers, who was a National League Gold Glove finalist in left field, will be counted on in the heart of the Marlins’ lineup in 2026 after a breakout campaign in ‘25. He hit .288/.368/.544 with 21 doubles, three triples, 25 homers and 73 RBIs in 117 games, though his season was cut short in August by a left oblique strain. During his rehab assignment, he sustained a setback with his right oblique and didn’t return last season.
During Stowers' absence, paired with Owen Caissie's participation in the World Baseball Classic, McCullough envisioned there being more opportunities in Grapefruit League games for non-roster outfielders Matthew Etzel, Andrew Pintar, Brendan Jones, Dillon Lewis and Kemp Alderman. Pintar went deep in Saturday's game at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.