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Kyle Schwarber Adjusting to Life as a Full-Time Phillies DH

May 16, 2024
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When Kyle Schwarber stepped into the batter’s box to lead off Wednesday against the New York Mets, it was the 40th time this season he’s done so as the starting designated hitter.

He’s played just one game in left field, he missed two games with back tightness, and he pinch hit in his other appearance.

What you might not realize is that this is new territory for Schwarber.

Wednesday night is the 947th time Schwarber has been in the starting lineup in his 10-year career.

The breakdown of his positions are:

  • Left field – 767 times
  • DH – 155 times (111 with the Phillies)
  • Catcher – 15 times
  • First Base – 9 times

Asked what his preference is, Schwarber was in the middle of answering the question when teammate Garrett Stubbs shouted over, “It’s gotta be catcher.”

Schwarber laughed and said, “I should be catching, right? I don’t know why they ever moved me out.”

He knows both catching, his position when he was first called up to the Bigs in 2015, and first base, which was a failed experiment tried by Boston in 2021, were not really going to be in the cards when he came to the Phillies.

While when he signed here he expected a hybridized role – some games in the outfield and some as DH – basically alternating with Nick Castellanos – the elbow injury to Bryce Harper completely changed the calculus.

Harper had to DH in 2022 if he was going to play. That meant, to keep both Schwarber and Castellanos in the lineup, they had to play in the outfield. And then, last year, once Harper was back and able to take the field, this time reincarnated as a first baseman, Schwarber was moved to DH on a more regular basis.

Never has it been this consistent.

Sure, he’ll get a few more games in the field this season to give guys a blow, but what was originally intended to be a pretty even split has tuned into something that’s going to be more like 95% DH, 5% left field.

“I enjoy playing a position, I enjoy playing the field,” Schwarber said. “Do I wish I was playing a position? There are days that you do and days that you don’t. But that’s the baseball player (in you). You play a position your whole life and now you kind of get that taken away a little bit. That’s not a negative thing by any means. That’s just the baseball player and you’re like, ‘Man, You know what? (I) kind of miss playing the field.’”

There’s no question – and Schwarber understands this completely – that the Phillies are a better defensive team with any other outfielder in left field than with him out there. So, this isn’t sour grapes by any means. But that doesn’t mean it’s also an adjustment he has to deal with as a professional.

“There’s pros and cons on both sides,” Schwarber said. “There’s a double-edged sword, you know. There’s an on and off switch and you’re always on when you’re going from the outfield and you come in to get ready to hit, and then you’re swinging back around to go back on the field. You’re always on.

“But when you’re the DH, you’re on, and then you turn it off, and then you got to turn it back on. And you got to find the right things to do. Sometimes you are taking too many swings. Sometimes it’s not enough swings. Then you can overanalyze an at bat or you take it for what it is and just move on to the next one. There’s a lot of different things, and it sounds complicated, but it’s really not.”

The one thing that’s complicated, or at least understanding why it’s happening, is the uneasiness that seems to consume him now that he spends defensive innings on the bench.

“For me now, I get anxiety for some reason to sit down and watch the game when we’re on defense,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Man I don’t have any kind of hand in it.”

Schwarber tries to manage that anxiety by keeping busy and getting swings in between at bats in the cage. But he also knows he can’t do that all the time either, because it could end up being counterproductive. So, what else does he do?

“I’m crossing my fingers and pacing around,” he said, jokingly.

But in reality, in the half of the inning when the Phillies are batting, it happens quickly.

“I usually start to try to get ready when I’m like five spots away,” he said. “But I feel like I’m five spots away every inning.”

Schwarber said that when he’s in the cage he’s paying close attention to the monitors because of the camera feeds they have.

“We always have a high home feed on, which is allowed, and then we also have the delay feed,” he said. So, you see what goes on with the high feed and then you go to the 30-second delay. But if it’s a really big spot in the game, everything stops. No one’s doing anything. We’re just sitting there watching.”

One thing Schwarber has learned by being a full-time DH is that he has a whole new appreciation for the Phillies pitchers – and coaches.

“I’m happy to be a player and not a coach,” he said. “Not having to make decisions and things in real time like that. The cool thing for me though is now I’m able to stay engaged with the pitching staff and what they’re doing and it’s really impressive. Sometimes you don’t really get to see it when you’re on the bench, but when you are down in the cage, and you get to see the back view and you get to see the quality of pitches they are making, it’s a cool thing.”

The post Kyle Schwarber Adjusting to Life as a Full-Time Phillies DH appeared first on Crossing Broad.

https://www.crossingbroad.com/2024/05/kyle-schwarber-adjusting-to-life-as-a-full-time-phillies-dh.html

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