Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber celebrates a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during … [+]
Kyle Schwarber is not your grandparents’ leadoff hitter, which he proves with every majestic blast into the right-field seats. The Philadelphia Phillies wouldn’t have it any other way.
In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he clubbed his fifth home run of the series, setting a new NLCS record with 11 in his career. He also had a home run in the American League Championship Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2021, giving him 12 altogether during the penultimate round of the playoffs. In total postseason action, he tied Derek Jeter for fourth-most ever with 20 dingers despite playing 95 fewer playoff games.
Traditionally, the batter at the top of the lineup is a singles hitter who makes plenty of contact, steals bases, plays an up-the-middle defensive position, and isn’t a threat to hit many home runs. Schwarber is the opposite of that in every respect. He only collected 68 singles all season, and several of them would’ve been doubles if he had normal leadoff-hitter speed. His 70.2% contact rate was significantly worse than the MLB average of 76.4% and he led the league with 215 strikeouts. Defensively, he’s a liability in left field and mostly serves as the Phillies’ designated hitter. His 24.9 ft/s sprint speed was well south of the league average of 27.0.
There are essentially only two things he does well, but they’re two of the most valuable assets a batter can possess. His most prominent skill is clobbering home runs. His 47 long balls this season were second in MLB behind Matt Olson’s 54. Over the last two seasons, he has 93 bombs, which trails only Aaron Judge’s 99.
His prodigious power feeds into his second-most desirable trait: drawing walks. Pitchers are less likely to throw him strikes because of his ability to send them over the fence. As a result, he collected 126 walks this season, which put him behind only Juan Soto (132 walks) on the leaderboard. Despite his abundant strikeouts and .197 batting average, this kept his on-base percentage at a healthy .343 level. Getting on base is the most critical skill for a leadoff hitter, even though he hasn’t stolen a base successfully since last year’s World Series. If several of those times “on base” are slow trots around the bags, that’s all the better.
The Phillies signed Schwarber to a four-year, $79 million contract prior to the 2022 season. The franchise has received excellent return-on-investment through the first half of the deal, as he has been a major reason why they’re a win away from reaching the World Series in each of the first two years of the contract.
When Philadelphia signed shortstop Trea Turner last offseason, many speculated he would bump Schwarber out of the leadoff spot and into a batting order position more traditional for a power hitter. Second baseman Bryson Stott and outfielder Brandon Marsh could also suffice at the top of the lineup. Nevertheless, manager Rob Thompson has stayed the course with his best home-run threat batting first. The results speak for themselves—especially in the NLCS.