Is Kyle Schwarber a Problem for the Philadelphia Phillies?

(Kyle Ross-Imagn Images)

The one thing I was worried about with the Philadelphia Phillies entering the season was that they'd be exactly who they’ve always been.

Unfortunately, to start the campaign, this looks like the same Phillies team we’ve seen over the past few years.

Whether fans, Dave Dombrowski, or anyone in the clubhouse wants to admit it, that’s the harsh reality. The Phillies are a good team and will get hot in stretches, but their bats will also go quiet at times, and some of the stars in the lineup deserve blame for that based on their track records.

I love Kyle Schwarber and what he’s done for this organization, but it’s almost impossible to ignore how often he strikes out.

We already knew Schwarber would strike out a ton when the Phillies re-signed him to a massive deal during the offseason, and while that comes with walks and home runs, the strikeouts have also been an issue to start the year. Schwarber now has 32 on the season, and it was recently brought up in a strong way when evaluating his production.

“Kyle Schwarber has six home runs (fourth most in the NL). He also has a top-six strikeout rate and a top-20 walk rate. No hitter in the National League has had more true outcomes (strikeouts, walks and homers) than Schwarber, at 60.8%, an increase over his typically high TTO number from the past few years.

“This is who Schwarber is — the Phillies knew that when they inked him to a $150 million extension — but his 29 strikeouts are also the second most in the NL. He's simply gotta put his bat on the ball more,” Evan Macy wrote.

I understand that the game has changed over the years, and many don’t view strikeouts as a huge issue. I’m not saying they’re everything, but the reality is that when you put the ball in play, things tend to happen more often than not. Even if it results in outs, forcing the defense to make plays is different than a strikeout. It’ll be interesting to see if Schwarber makes any adjustments, but history suggests he likely won’t.