Kyle Schwarber’s 29 Homers by Late June Has Phillies Rethinking What’s Possible

Kyle Schwarber keeps doing things that make you stop and check the math. Twenty-nine home runs before July. That puts the 60-homer conversation in play, and it’s no longer just fans daydreaming in the stands.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic dropped a stat this week that reframes Schwarber’s entire Phillies run. In his first five seasons with Philadelphia, Schwarber has hit 216 home runs. That’s the most by any free agent in his first five years with a new team in MLB history. The list of players he passed includes Rafael Palmeiro, David Ortiz and Barry Bonds. That is not a typo.

The Phillies got more than they paid for

Team president Dave Dombrowski admitted something interesting recently. When the Phillies gave Schwarber a five-year, $150 million deal before this season, they expected 35 to 40 homers a year. What they got instead was a guy who led the NL in homers in 2022, did it again in 2023 and is leading again right now. Dombrowski told reporters the team genuinely did not see this version coming when they signed him in 2022.

Schwarber’s game has never been about clean numbers across the board. His batting average won’t wow you. WAR types will point to his defense or lack of it. The strikeouts are baked in. But Stark’s point is worth sitting with. There’s a difference between a good free-agent signing and one that rewrites the record books. Schwarber is doing the second thing.

One swing changes everything

What makes Schwarber different is the feeling he creates. When he walks to the plate in a tight game, the energy shifts. Citizens Bank Park gets louder. The other team’s pitcher grips the ball a little tighter. Dombrowski said he would buy a ticket just to watch Schwarber hit. That’s not fluff. That’s a baseball executive talking about a hitter the way fans talk about a hitter.

The Phillies are in a weird spot right now, sitting near the top of the NL East with a chance to do real damage in October. Having a guy averaging nearly a homer every two games gives them a margin for error most teams don’t have. They can afford cold streaks from other guys because Schwarber can erase a two-run deficit with one cut.

The GOAT talk feels less ridiculous every week. Schwarber just turned another 94-mph fastball into a souvenir. At this rate, the conversation is only going to get louder.