Kyle Stowers entered the year feeling frustrated. The Stanford product, who splits his time between Baltimore and Triple-A Norfolk, posted a mediocre 84 wRC+ in 168 games with the Orioles from 2022-2024. Additionally, he later got into trouble on the first scrimmage against the Marlins. Stowers was acquired by the Miami Heat in exchange for Trevor Rogers along with Connor Norby at last year’s trade deadline, but Stowers only posted a 57 wRC+ in 172 PA. The 2019 second-round pick hasn’t quite reached busted prospect territory yet, but he’s nowhere near reaching his potential.
Things are completely different this year. The 27-year-old outfielder finally found his footing and broke out as the Marlins’ everyday left fielder. Before his season ended prematurely due to a left oblique strain (he played his final game on August 15), Stowers hit 25 home runs in 457 games while slashing .288/.368/.544 with a 149 wRC+. Additionally, he played in the All-Star Game for the Fish and was recently named a Senior Tour Gold Gloves finalist.
I asked the left-handed slugger about his breakout when the Marlins visited Boston in August, a series that coincided with his season-ending injury. Is this just for him to get more opportunities, or is there more to it?
“There are a lot of reasons for that,” Sowers told me. “Getting opportunities was one of them. The other one was that I cleaned up some mechanical stuff and got better with timing, especially with speed. I was also very clear mentally. That was a big key. I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself and I wasn’t trying to get ahead of myself.”
The jump up and down from Triple-A to Pro is often a recipe for stress when you don’t make it to the next level. Stowers admits he did, especially toward the end of his tenure with the Orioles and even upon his arrival in Miami.
“Yes,” Stowers replied when I asked him the question. “When I was traded from Baltimore and getting daily playing time — even last spring — the staff here told me I was going to be a big part of this team. I still felt that pressure. But then I looked in the mirror and told myself, if I don’t have the success that I think I should have, that’s okay. I realized that I was putting pressure on myself. I needed to find a way to get out there and play.”
Improving your mindset can do wonders, but at the same time, the physical aspects of hitting major league pitching present significant challenges. Stowers also mentioned that mechanical adjustments were behind his breakout performance, so I asked him how much of a role those adjustments played. Which changes, physical or mental, ultimately have a greater impact?
“Exactly, it’s hard to say,” he said. “But I do think the mental part makes the mechanical changes work. There’s not a feeling that if I make a change, it has to work that night. When I’m working on the mechanics with the coaching staff, I’m on the outside thinking about my mechanics. I have to let go because I know whatever happens on the field is going to happen.”
Stowers doesn’t blame the hitting coaches he worked with in Baltimore for any of his struggles. From his perspective, he’s always on the same page as Ryan Fuller, Matt Borgschulte and others who work with him. He felt they all believed him. More than anything, it’s a matter of “not having enough time on site to see these things manifest themselves.”
Looking back at the video, Stowers saw too many times his “weight tipped toward the plate” instead of him staying balanced in the zone. He believes this is to blame for the time inconsistency.
As he mentioned, the timing issues — specifically his inability to adequately handle the heat — have been largely corrected this season.
“I’m competitive now on more courses in more locations,” Stowers said. “I had a tough time before this year with velocity at the top of the zone, and that’s something I’m more confident in. That’s the biggest change in the sense of run value from last year to this year — the difference in run value versus fastball.”
Again, a more relaxed mindset not only helps him build confidence, it also helps him punish pitchers. Stowers’ degree from Stanford was in communications, but given his newfound perspective, it was likely in psychology.
“Early on, you tend to believe you have to be different than you are now,” Stowers said of his maturation process. “Especially when you’re struggling in the major leagues. I actually talked about it with our hitting coach Pedro Guerrero in the spring. He showed me the 2023 Triple-A The swing in the game, when I hit the home run. He said to me, ‘Just be that guy. ‘ It was very therapeutic because it showed me that the swing was always good enough to compete at this level, and I just didn’t allow myself to believe that. Because when you’re struggling in the big leagues, you feel like you have to be a different person and you can forget who you are and what helped you get there. So while the mechanical adjustments do help, the mental adjustments are the most important.”
