Marlins Rising Star Recognized As Top 10 Left Fielder Heading Into 2026 Season
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Miami Marlins left fielder Kyle Stowers was mentioned in MLB Now’s Top 10 left fielders.
After one successful season, that’s massive praise for a rising star. There are incredibly high expectations for Stowers to deliver once again for the Marlins in the 2026 season.
Stowers Potential to be an All-Star Again and Silver Slugger Award Winner in Second Year
The 27-year-old is a focused and determined ball player. His leadership and commitment to the team are essential. It’s a great honor to be mentioned in the same sentence alongside other left fielders such as Jarren Duran, Roman Anthony, Cody Bellinger, Riley Greene, James Wood, Ian Happ, Yordan Alvarez, Jackson Churio, and Brandon Marsh.
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As he approaches his second season, he has the potential to go higher than the No. 8 spot. Although Churio should’ve been ahead of Stowers for that eighth spot, the bigger picture is that Stowers is getting proper respect from baseball writers as a top 10 left fielder.
Stowers had a 149 OPS+ in 2025, which is one of the best among hitters, joining a solid group of Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Cal Raleigh, and many more. He hit a slash line of .293/.370/.566. Stowers came five home runs shy of reaching 30 home runs and had a 3.6 wins above replacement in 107 games.
One interesting thing about the left fielder is that he likes to put pressure on himself. Winning is a prize worth paying for. To become great, you need to put pressure on yourself in a healthy way, obviously, right? Stowers shared this in an interview late in the 2025 season, after receiving National League Player of the Month honors.
“We all care so much,” Stowers said. “We’ve been playing this game our whole life, and so for me it’s kind of like trying to put myself in a position where I can accept the good and the bad, and that just allows me to go play free.”
Stowers is constantly in the batting cage, working on his mechanical batting stance. He knows there’s a lot more work to be done. Given those reasons, we believe he will become an All-Star again and possibly hit over .300, which will earn him the Silver Slugger Award.
“There were drills and stuff we did,” Stowers said. “For me, it just kind of started with being more on time and giving myself space to allow the body work.”
Stowers and his hitting coaches have developed a significant and profound relationship. Stowers and the Marlins surprised the baseball world during the second half of the season. Miami corrected some mental and physical mistakes and began playing clean baseball late in games.
It’s going to be an exciting 2026 to see what Stowers and the rest of the Marlins group can bring to the field. They certainly have the right attitude going into the season.
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After graduating from City College of New York in 2014, Miguel created his own blog. Since 2021, he has written for FanSided, where he covered the Toronto Blue Jays, College Football and Utah Mammoth hockey team. He also wrote for Miami Heat on SI and Cleveland Sports Talk. Miguel is the creator and host of his podcast, Baseball Heat Podcast with Mike.