Stowers heads to IL with left oblique strain, to miss several weeks
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BOSTON -- Marlins All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain ahead of Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox.
Manager Clayton McCullough, who made the announcement that Stowers was going to be placed on the IL following Saturday’s 7-5 loss at Fenway Park, said that Stowers will be out for at least several weeks, though the full extent of the timeline wasn’t yet known.
Stowers initially felt the tightness after the second swing of his first at-bat on Friday, which resulted in an RBI double one pitch later.
“Just felt something a little weird,” Stowers said postgame Saturday. “Honestly, [I] wasn't really bothered [by] the remaining swings of that game.”
The tightness didn’t increase, but it did persist into Saturday. The Marlins kept Stowers out of the lineup to undergo testing to identify the diagnosis.
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“There was soreness during the game yesterday,” Stowers said. “If every single player came out of the game every time they felt something, they'd come out a lot more. To me, didn't seem like something that I needed to come out of the game for.
“There's some soreness after, soreness today, and it's just one of those areas that you just kind of tend to lean cautious. I came back in with some soreness today. That's kind of the route we took.”
The IL placement is a blow to both Stowers and the Marlins.
The 27-year-old Stowers is in the midst of a breakout campaign, slashing .288/.368/.544 with a 149 OPS+, 21 doubles, three triples, 25 homers and 73 RBIs in 117 games. The National League’s Player of the Month for July is among the NL’s leaders in several offensive categories, including: OPS (.912, fifth), slugging (sixth), homers (tied for ninth), average (10th) and RBIs (11th) and on-base percentage (12th).
“I just love being available, love being able to play,” Stowers said. “I don't like missing any games. I missed a couple early for my hand, and didn't like that.”
The Marlins recalled outfielder Joey Wiemer from Triple-A Jacksonville as the corresponding roster move.
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Miami claimed Wiemer off waivers from Kansas City on Aug. 4. In nine games with the Jumbo Shrimp, he hit .375/.500/.719 with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. The 26-year-old has 153 games of MLB experience from 2023-24 with the Brewers and Reds.
Wiemer is an option for the Marlins to mix and match in Stowers’ absence. Since the Marlins called up Jakob Marsee, he has been starting on a daily basis. This has resulted in less playing time for Dane Myers and Derek Hill, who should see more opportunities along with Heriberto Hernández.
“Any time you get some news like that, when someone who's been such a key contributor for us is going to have to miss any amount of time,” McCullough said. “And for Kyle, he's having such a great year. Injuries are an unfortunate part of our sport, and no one's going to feel sorry for us as we get going, moving along. So we still have a very tough, resilient crew, and a talented crew in there, and we'll just come out and just keep moving along.”