MIAMI -- In the hours leading up to his Opening Day walk-off hit, Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers sent a photo from his Little League days to his family.
"Everyone wants to get the season off on the right foot, but I was trying to have a little bit more perspective and just focus on enjoying it,” Stowers said. “I was like, ‘Proud of this guy for dreaming of being here.’ And then that kind of got me thinking in the journal. I wrote, ‘I'm playing for that 12-year-old kid who believed he could be here, and then also playing for me 20 years from now who would give anything to be back in this moment.”
A former top prospect, Stowers entered 2025 with a lot to prove. Through 117 career games from 2022-24, he posted a 67 OPS+ while shuttling back and forth between the Majors and Minors. After being acquired from Baltimore alongside Connor Norby in the Trevor Rogers trade in ‘24, Stowers struggled (52 OPS+ in 50 games) in his first chance at everyday starts in The Show. So Stowers and his mentor, Jason Jenkins, discussed the idea of journaling. Stowers, who first jotted down his thoughts during a 2023 rehab stint, decided to give it another shot by buying a journal with Bible verses on each page. |
"The reason I started doing it, ultimately, at first, was just to provide a platform for me to put my thoughts into clear sentences after the day, so that way I used it as a wind-down tool from baseball,” Stowers said. “For me, it was turning off the baseball player.”
The 27-year-old sees it as an opportunity to reflect on topics ranging from what he liked about the day to the power of regret. During the first few weeks, Stowers wrote in the journal once a day. Sometimes it was a half-page’s worth of thoughts. Other times it was three pages. He would borrow a pen from his wife or trainer depending on when inspiration struck.
The point of the journaling is to make his ruminating thoughts more linear, and to complement his talks with Jenkins, his family and Marlins mental skills coach Marius Aleksa.
"He comes in every day, whether he has a good day or a bad day, he just trusts the process, and he can see the good out of a day that he probably doesn't have good results,” hitting coach Pedro Guerrero said. “That's really encouraging and refreshing for coaches, because it's a game of results, right? It's tough to see when you have a tough game, and you don't just go out there and then think, ‘Man, I need to get a hit.’ But he is actually pretty mature in that sense.” |
Whether focusing on the physical or mental side of his game, or likely some combination of the two, Stowers has been one of the Majors’ breakout stars so far this season.
After Saturday’s walk-off grand slam -- the first in franchise history in 11 years -- Stowers is hitting .324/.392/.552 with four doubles, one triple, six homers and a team-high 25 RBIs in 30 games. His first two career multihomer games have come this week: Wednesday at Dodger Stadium and Saturday at loanDepot park.
“He's just someone that is always looking for ways in which I need to improve and ways I need to continue to adjust, and that's a sign of a good young player that is open to understanding that you're always going to have to adapt at some point,” manager Clayton McCullough said.
But Stowers understands the chase never stops, even after two-homer, six-RBI performances like Saturday. |
“What I'm trying to do is give myself grace, regardless of the result, and if I'm being completely vulnerable -- I have a great support system back home, a lot of people that love me,” Stowers said. “If baseball doesn't go as well as I want it to, I have a ton of people that aren't going to think of me any differently. So why should I think of myself any differently if a day doesn't go well?
“So that's what I'm trying to work through is, I still work my tail off. I still want to have all this success, but I just want to give myself grace, so that I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. I just give God the opportunity to do his work in my life, and I don't want to get in the way of that, and I feel like I can get in the way of that.
"And this doesn't mean that everything's going to be sunshine and rainbows moving forward, but I just want to give myself the best chance to have success, and that starts with me being more present and more clear-minded and not filled with pressure like there's a consequence from myself if I don't do well.” |
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“JJ is one of my really good friends. Obviously, pissed I gave one up to him. Just thinking about it, too, he's probably like 15-for-16 on me in the backfields, so he's got my number. But hopefully next time I can try to sneak something by him.” -- Marlins right-hander Max Meyer, on surrendering a homer to A’s outfielder JJ Bleday. Meyer (third overall, 2020) and Bleday (fourth overall, 2019) were first-round picks by Miami in consecutive Drafts. |
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