It used to be that your leadoff hitter was fast – probably your center fielder, but maybe a left fielder or second baseman. They could hit for high average or low average, but when it came down to it, they could get on base – they could work walks and bunt their way on and take big leads. Then they scurried around the bases and scored a lot of runs when the beefier, tobacco juice-stained sluggers came up in the three, four and five spots in the batting order. And that’s how baseball worked, or was supposed to work, for a very long time.
The game has changed. New trends arrived. Priorities shifted. Some players stopped wanting to run as much because it was a great way to chew through their tendons faster. They preferred to play a few more years than attempt to take the extra base. Swiping 50 bags a year can kill your knees and sliding headfirst can wreck your ribs, let alone the odd pinky injury that’ll sideline you for a couple of weeks.
As the game evolved, the Phillies tried a few guys in the leadoff role over the last decade. Many of them were imperfect versions of that earlier definition; some weren’t so much “leading off” as just “batting first.” Some had one of the components of a leadoff hitter: Ben Revere was fast. César Hernández could get on base. Andrew McCutchen would throw on his Saturday Night Special jersey and charm his way to first.
At some point, Kyle Schwarber showed up in Philadelphia. No one really remembers how. You’ll hear rumors about him being a free-agent signing by Dave Dombrowski before the 2022 season who received a four-year deal through 2025. But the truth is, one day we woke up and he was here, smashing home runs onto the porch in right-center at Citizens Bank Park. It was great.
Schwarber is a different kind of leadoff hitter than previous generations of baseball decision-makers would have accepted. He’s big, he hits for power, and last year he couldn’t keep his batting average above .200. He showed up a bit trimmer to spring training this season, because someone showed him a clip of himself running the bases synced with a song from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. But he and Mike Schmidt are the only Phillies ever to have five hits and three homers in a game, and he is the defending National League Player of the Week.
Crunch time
In his first at-bat at CBP on opening day 2022, Schwarber crushed a sinker that didn’t land so much as it vaporized into a powder. He rounded the bases as the ballpark shook and then came back out of the dugout to work the crowd into even more of a frenzy. Since then, he’s hit plenty more. (From June 6 to June 29 in 2023, five of the six home runs he hit were leadoff home runs.)
This year, Schwarber hit a leadoff home run against the Braves in the third game of the season that restored some sanity to a fanbase on its way to derangement. He hit three more in April and one at the end of May. He slipped two each into June, July and August and hit another one off the Blue Jays in early September. He’s hit them to deep right and deep left; off Chris Sale, Logan Gilbert, and Joe Musgrove. And on Tuesday night, after 24 leadoff home runs in his Phillies career, Schwarber led off with a home run again – his 14th of the 2024 season – and this time, it made a little history.
The latest episode of Hittin’ Season
The 2024 Phillies have forged a different reputation than their 2022 and 2023 counterparts; instead of starting slow, getting hot, and blasting through the Braves, the 2024 Phillies started hot, stumbled midway through, and have spent September going on the Injured List. Schwarber redefined himself as well. Having typically smashed his way through the month of June, when he has hit 12 and eight home runs, respectively, in 2022 and 2023, Schwarber stayed relatively cool earlier this year. He chose instead to empty his power reserves later in the season, hitting 12 home runs and slugging .565 since August 1 going into Tuesday night’s game.
At that point, Schwarber was still tied with Alfonso Soriano for the single-season leadoff home run record with 13. But Schwarber had a few weeks of home run-hitting still to go (and Soriano retired in 2014). The Phillies ‘ leadoff hitter used one of his first opportunities since his last leadoff homer on September 4 against the Blue Jays to break the record, crushing a very hittable offering from Rays starter Taj Bradley to right center.
The Phillies have undergone a resurgence since their All-Star break hangover, winning 12 of their last 16 games since August 24. Schwarber has hit six homers in that span, while slugging .642 and leading the team in plate appearances (76). When the Phillies have been hot this season, it’s been because at least one hitter is supercharging the offense. When that’s been Schwarber, his contributions have been hard, far, and in at least 14 record-breaking instances, immediate. On Tuesday night, he reminded everyone watching why it’s so important that he showed up here: Because no one hits the ball harder, farther, or more immediately than Kyle Schwarber.
And then, because it’s September, he left the game with elbow discomfort after sliding into first base. He missed Wednesday’s game against Tampa Bay, but Thomson said he is expected to be back in the lineup Friday to start a big series against the Mets at Citizens Bank Park.