Declan Cronin and Kyle Stowers go from teammates on the Cape to teammates in MLB

[Kevin Barral]

Six years later, the former summer collegiate league teammates have been reunited at the highest level of baseball.

MIAMI, FL—Every summer, the Cape Cod Baseball League brings together some of the most talented players in college baseball. Consider the 2018 Falmouth Commodores. Their roster featured seven future major leaguers, including Atlanta Braves star pitcher Spencer Strider and two current Miami Marlins, Declan Cronin and Kyle Stowers.

"Remember it being a really fun group," said Stowers. "One thing specifically for some reason that comes up to me is I think in the Cape is such a pure form of baseball. You're playing on high school fields, bad lights if you're playing night games, and you're just playing the game. I think summer ball as a whole in college feels like that. Just feels like a simplified form of baseball."

Playing on the Cape between his sophomore and junior seasons at Stanford University, Stowers was one of Falmouth's top position players. He ended up slashing .326/.361/.565/.926 with six home runs, 24 RBIs and a team-leading 78 total bases. He was second on the team in batting average, OPS and slugging.

Cronin, on the other hand, split his summer schedule between the New England Collegiate Baseball League and the Cape. He pitched only five games for the Commodores (all in relief).

"There were some talented guys," said the Holy Cross right-hander. "Obviously the Cape is really cool because of the high level talent that you can be surrounded with, both on your team and the guys you're going against every night."

Many members of the Marlins clubhouse departed over the last two weeks in trade deadline day deals. That includes left-hander Trevor Rogers, who went to the Baltimore Orioles on deadline day in exchange for Stowers and prospect Connor Norby.

"We were waiting to see what the return [for Rogers] was and somebody was like, 'Oh, we got an outfielder, Stowers,' and I was like, 'We got Stowers!' I was so pumped. I was fully exuberant, so it's great to know that he's here and we're back on the same team."

"He was one of my favorite teammates when we played together then and it's obviously awesome to be back on the same team with him," said Cronin about Stowers. "He's an awesome guy. He's a really talented ballplayer and he's going to be a huge impact on the field, but also off the field. He's one of the best guys I've come across."

Stowers and Cronin have kept up with each other since the summer of '18. They attended the wedding of a mutual friend and competed head-to-head in recent years at the Triple-A level as members of the Orioles and Chicago White Sox organizations, respectively.

"We've stayed in touch through that and I just remember him being very intelligent, as he obviously still is a very intelligent person," said Cronin. "Knew what he was doing, knew what he wanted to do to be successful."

This time around, their stint as teammates could last much longer. Both players are under Marlins club control through at least the 2029 season.

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