Kyle Stowers’ voice leveled out, reflecting on a night when he went 1-for-2 at the plate. The Orioles outfielder briefly harped on a missed opportunity with a first-inning strikeout, ignoring his single in the fourth. But then his voice climbed an octave, painted with buoyant inflection.
“Just happy to be out there competing,” Stowers said. “And having those opportunities. Sometimes you’re gonna execute and sometimes you’re not. But I’m glad to be in that spot.”
Stowers started in right field for the Orioles’ 11-3 thrashing of the Boston Red Sox on Monday, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. While Stowers wore a microphone during MASN’s television broadcast Tuesday night, one young fan congratulated him on those extra-base hits, which earned the 26-year-old another start in an 8-3 loss at Camden Yards.
Tuesday marked Stowers’ first time starting back-to-back games since last May.
“[I’m] a lot more comfortable,” Stowers said. “I think I told you guys when I first got here that I knew what to expect coming into things now. Playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of gratitude and honestly, just playing. I’m just playing the game.”
To call his professional baseball path winding might be underselling its turbulence.
Stowers was drafted in 2019, notably the third Orioles pick in a draft that began with the selection of stars Adley Rustchman and Gunnar Henderson. Since then, it’s been a well-documented tour back and forth between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore, as Stowers only recently passed the 130 at-bats threshold to graduate from prospect status.
The former Stanford star made his big league debut under unique circumstances on June 13, 2022, in Toronto as a replacement player for Anthony Santander, then on the restricted list, but he returned to Norfolk four days later. Stowers was back in Baltimore in August, hanging on as a platoon player through the end of the season. He broke camp with the Orioles to open 2023, but was optioned to Triple-A shortly thereafter.
Then he was called up in late April 2023, recorded two hits in 27 plate appearances, and was optioned on Mother’s Day. Shoulder inflammation, then a fractured nose on a hit-by-pitch, sent his season wayward. At the winter meetings, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias called it “terrible timing,” with the latter injury having ended any possibility of a September call-up to be a left-handed bench bat for the eventual American League East champions.
After posting an .856 OPS with 11 home runs in 36 games to begin this season at Norfolk, Stowers was recalled two weeks ago — again on Mother’s Day. “Long road for me to get back here from last year,” he said. For those keeping track at home, that makes this call-up his fifth major league stint.
“Kyle got off to a great start in Triple-A, we’re excited about that,” Hyde said the day after the news broke. “He’s got huge power potential. We’ve seen the power when he’s been up here before.”
Stowers is hoping this call-up will be the one that sticks.
“Anyone who’s gotten a taste of the big leagues, this is where you wanna be,” he said. “So when you’re not here, you do anything you can to get back.” He mentioned on Tuesday’s hot mic that last year’s playoff trip was his “biggest moment of FOMO [fear of missing out].”
Entering today, Kyle Stowers had never hit the sprinkler at Camden Yards.
He's done so twice today. pic.twitter.com/xxD8GSnz7u
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) May 27, 2024
Recent Orioles history of the past couple of months suggests two potential trails for the third outfield prospect to get a chance with the big league club this season.
First came Colton Cowser. The 2021 No. 5 overall draft pick broke camp in Baltimore but wasn’t a fixture in the lineup for the first two weeks. Then he ran with his opportunity, endearing himself to fans by early April after hitting two home runs and three doubles in Boston. Heston Kjerstad’s chance came with an April 23 call-up. The No. 2 pick in 2020 had 17 plate appearances in as many days but collected only two hits. He was optioned back to Norfolk on May 13.
Stowers likely can’t become the everyday player that Cowser is because of the logjam of talent ahead of him. But if he can keep up his plate production, there’s certainly room to squeeze in as a platoon player. Elias also said at the winter meetings that Stowers could be an “under-the-radar … factor” this season.
Thus far, Stowers is slashing .389/.368/.556 in 18 at-bats across 10 games. He has as many RBIs (five) and nearly as many doubles (three) as strikeouts (five), and his OPS is .924. Naturally, Stowers credits his experience for the most fruitful start across his five MLB stints. It’s his improved mental sharpness. It’s getting as many “game-like reps — as close to game-like reps — in the cage.”
Santander said of Stowers through team interpreter Brandon Quinones: “He’s very disciplined. He goes about his work the right way, and it’s good to see him do well so far in his stint.”
Hyde put Stowers’ outing Tuesday in perspective, noting the collective group “didn’t do anything off [Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello].” But he liked Stowers’ swing over the past two days, specifically complimenting his handling of Bello’s “tough sinker and changeup combination” after the young outfielder hit a single to right field on a low-and-away 89 mph changeup in the fourth inning.
“I think with how the last year has gone for me,” Stowers said, “there’s a lot of things that happened that I didn’t expect to happen: injury, getting hit in the face, so on and so forth. I know that no days are given in this game — and obviously in life. So just cherishing each moment. Being prepared in each moment. And just trying to take advantage of every opportunity.”
