Kyle Schwarber is an enigma. He is one of the quintessential three-true-outcome players in the game today. Schwarber has a strikeout rate that drives old-school fans crazy. He walks and hits home runs that new-school fans love. One thing that everyone can agree on, however, is: everyone loves the month of Schwarber.
The Month of Schwarber
Any Other Month
Any other month, Kyle Schwarber is human. Some months, he is even below average when it comes to OPS+. Outside of the month of Schwarber, Kyle carries a career line of .223/.335/.467 with 165 home runs. That line also includes 841 strikeouts in 2,949 plate appearances. A strikeout rate of 28.5%. He hits less, slugs less, and gets on base less. Most thought that with the ban of the shift, Schwarber would be able to rack up more base hits. But that hasn’t been the case so far this season. That is until it happened.
This season, Schwarber carried a line of .163/.318/.395 with 13 home runs and 68 strikeouts across 233 plate appearances. If it has not been the worst stretch of his career thus far, it has most definitely been the worst stretch of his tenure as a Philadelphia Phillie. This was the man that led the NL in home runs last season with 46! He was second in all of baseball in home runs, in fact. It netted him an All-Star nod, a top-20 finish in NL MVP voting, and a Silver Slugger. But this season has been different. We were not seeing the Schwarber from last season. There were cries from the fans for him to be benched or traded. We certainly would not see the same production as last year! That is until it happened.
The Month of June
The clock struck midnight. The calendar pages flipped. June Schwarber awoke from his slumber to bring the lumber. Just this season alone, (prior to June 5th) Schwarber has already put up a line of .263/.300/.632 with two home runs and an OPS+ on the month of 161. Yes, it has been a small sample size, only 20 plate appearances so far, but it is much closer to his career line in June to gloss over.
Throughout his career, Schwarber has put up a line of .258/.350/.608 with 49 home runs across 552 plate appearances. Good enough for a career OPS+ in the month of June of 128. In the month of June, Kyle Schwarber is a completely different player. The rest of the season matters, yes, but in the month of June, the month of Schwarber, we sit back and enjoy the fireworks show.
Main photo credits:
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
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