Schwarber breaks leadoff mold -- and pitchers' spirit

PHILADELPHIA -- It's no secret that Kyle Schwarber is not the typical leadoff hitter. Even by today's standards, his presence at the top of the Phillies' order is unique.

Schwarber just finished a regular-season campaign in which he clubbed 47 homers despite hitting just .197. That made him the first player in Major League history to hit 40 homers while hitting below .200. At the same time, however, he's the only player to hit below .200 and draw at least 120 walks.

Now, factor in his role as the club’s leadoff hitter. There have been 1,050 instances of a player making at least 500 plate appearances out of the No. 1 spot in a single season. Schwarber's .205 average leading off was the lowest of any of them.

So peaks and valleys are expected when it comes to Schwarber.

To this point in the 2023 postseason, it has been mostly the latter. Schwarber enters the National League Championship Series against the D-backs having gone just 4-for-25, and he has yet to leave the yard.

But there's no need to panic. After all, we've seen this type of slump from Schwarber in the past -- including a nearly identical start to last postseason.

At this time last year, many Phillies fans were clamoring for manager Rob Thomson to shake up his batting order. Schwarber had gone just 1-for-20 with no home runs and eight strikeouts through the first two rounds of the postseason.

Yet despite daily questions about dropping Schwarber out of the leadoff spot -- “No chance,” the Philadelphia skipper said at the time -- Thomson stuck with his guy.

Schwarber rewarded that patience by hitting a clutch home run off Yu Darvish in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS. Schwarber added a leadoff shot in Game 3, then went deep again in Game 4. All three of those home runs came in Phillies victories.

Overall, Schwarber went 6-for-15 (.400) with three homers, six walks and a 1.571 OPS in the 2022 NLCS. He went on to hit three more home runs in the World Series. Following his 1-for-20 start, Schwarber posted a slash line of .314/.489/.829 for an 1.318 OPS with six home runs and 12 walks over the final 11 games of the ’22 postseason.

“I think you have to be consistent in your approach in the way you come to the ballpark and the way you interact with your players,” Thomson said recently of his tendency to not hit the panic button. “And it's not just me, but it's the entire coaching staff. I have a lot of help in that area. So the [players] don't sense any panic whatsoever.”

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By now, there is no question that Schwarber has cemented his place atop Philadelphia’s order -- and it’s not just for his ability to set the tone with a leadoff homer.

Along with his career-high 47 home runs, Schwarber also walked 126 times this season. So while his .197 average ranked dead last among 134 qualified hitters, his .343 on-base percentage ranked 46th among that same group.

“He does get on base,” Thomson said. “The walks, the on-base, the slug -- he can impact the game from pitch one and give us a lead, 1-0. He's done that many times this year. What he also does is, as we turn the lineup over … guys at the end of the lineup get on base, and now, we've got this power threat coming up. Not only has he scored a lot of runs, but he's created a lot of runs.

“And I think, yeah, he's not the Rickey Henderson typical leadoff guy, but he's so effective in that spot.”

The scary part for the opposition is that the Phillies -- even without Schwarber flexing his power yet -- have hit 13 home runs in just six games this postseason. Only two teams in MLB history have homered more in the first six games of a postseason: the 2020 Yankees (16) and '04 Astros (15).

To this point, Schwarber’s struggles have been masked primarily by the performances of Trea Turner (two homers, 1.455 OPS), Nick Castellanos (four homers, 1.440 OPS) and Bryce Harper (three homers, 1.380 OPS).

“I feel like this is why our team is built this way, because each guy, on any given night, can [come through],” Harper said. “And it's so much fun to be able to do that. If one guy is not going, the next guy is going to go. If that guy isn't going to go, the next guy is going to go.”

Still, it’s likely only a matter of time until Schwarber hits the gas.