How Kyle Schwarber went from failed leadoff experiment to a unique, record-setting No. 1 hitter

In making leadoff-hitting history this season, Kyle Schwarber turned into the physical embodiment of a punch to the opponent’s jaw.

Better than being a punch line.

At his wedding, no less.

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OK, let’s explain. The story, first told by ESPN.com two years ago, goes something like this: When Schwarber got married in December 2019, his father, Greg, gave the first toast at the reception. And as his speech got off to a halting start, he fired off a disarming one-liner.

“Us Schwarbers,” he said, “aren’t very good at leading off.”

It was funny because, back then, it was true. Schwarber, bearded and burly, looked more like Paul Bunyan than Paul Molitor. But the Cubs tried him in the leadoff spot anyway in 2017, and the experiment went so terribly that he landed back in triple A.

That’s impossible to fathom now, especially if you’ve watched Schwarber only since he signed with the Phillies in 2022. Because for anyone’s money, even the $79 million that he’s making on a four-year contract that runs through next season, he has brought game-changing power to the top of the order — and even changed the minds of some stubborn traditionalists who think sluggers belong lower down.

First, the numbers: Over the last three seasons, Schwarber has 33 leadoff home runs, 10 more than any other player. That includes 15 this season, eclipsing Alfonso Soriano’s major-league record of 13 for the Yankees in 2003.

Schwarber’s .588 slugging percentage when leading off a game is third among hitters who have done it at least 150 times since 2022, trailing the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson (.628) and the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts (.589). His .935 OPS ranks fourth behind Henderson (.978), the Astros’ Jose Altuve (.963), and Betts (.940).

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But then there’s the tone that Schwarber can set in the first inning.

In the past, prototypical leadoff hitters would change a game with their blazing speed. A pitcher who walked Rickey Henderson, or Tim Raines, or Ichiro Suzuki often fell prey to steals of second and third base and the potential of allowing a run on a wild pitch or a sacrifice fly.

Schwarber has a similar effect with his prodigious power. The pitcher who falls behind in the count and tries to sneak a fastball over the plate, as Mariners ace Logan Gilbert did on Aug. 4 or the Blue Jays’ Bowden Francis on Sept. 4, is liable to lose it to a fan in the bleachers.

That’s the Schwarber Effect. And as with those bygone leadoff men, it puts pressure on a starter from the very first pitch. There’s no such thing as easing into a game.

“I’ve seen games many times won or lost based on the first hitter and what he does,” former Cubs manager Joe Maddon said by phone this week. “People may argue that. I’ve seen it. It’s that, everybody’s-got-a-plan-until-you-get-punched-in-the-face thing.

“Rickey did that also. [Schwarber] just does it in a different way. The other team is like, ‘Let’s go, we’ve got our best pitcher going,’ and he comes up and the first pitch is in the stands.”

So, how did Schwarber go from a miscast table-setter early in his career to the very model of a modern leadoff man?

The answer reveals a player who, at age 31, has developed the mindset and mechanics to mature from a slugger into a more complete hitter — and the catalyst of a high-priced, star-studded offense that will try to power the Phillies to a World Series title over the next month.

If ever a manager built up the goodwill with a fan base to do something outside the box, it was Maddon after steering the Cubs to their hex-breaking World Series triumph in 2016.

Or so he thought.

“After you’ve won a World Series, people tend to be more tolerant to try things and to stay with things, especially after 108 years,” Maddon said. “There’s not as much knee-jerk stuff going on.”

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But in announcing that he planned to replace free-agent leadoff man Dexter Fowler with Schwarber, at least against right-handed pitchers, Maddon encountered pushback. Never mind that he highlighted Schwarber’s knowledge of the strike zone and knack for drawing walks. Critics countered that Schwarber would clog the bases.

“It was playing a lot of defense, trying to explain to everybody why I thought he had great attributes for that role,” Maddon recalled. “And it was really based on the discerning eye. I thought we’d see high on-base, high slug, and I also thought eventually the batting average would come up.”

In hindsight, Schwarber figures he might have needed convincing, too.

Maybe it was the dissonance from outsiders. Or maybe Schwarber changed his approach at the plate to compensate for what he thought he needed to do differently atop the order.

In reality, it was probably that Schwarber, who missed almost all of the 2016 season while coming back from surgery on torn ligaments in his left knee, was still learning to hit lefties and wasn’t ready for the leadoff-hitting responsibility.

Whatever the case, he batted .182 with a .305 on-base percentage through 41 games when Maddon finally took him out of the leadoff spot. A month later, with his average slipping to .171 and his on-base to .295, the Cubs sent him to the minors.

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“It was a matter of getting that conception out of my head of, ‘I’ve got to see pitches, I’ve got to try to walk, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that,’” Schwarber said this week. “I naturally do those things well. The more I thought about it, I was like, ‘Why don’t I just take my at-bat? Why don’t I just be myself and stop trying to be that prototype conception of a leadoff hitter? It’s like, just be myself and see what happens.”

Schwarber’s demotion lasted two weeks. But upon his return to the Cubs, Maddon didn’t dare put him back in the leadoff spot. It took two years, and even then, Schwarber hit only .229 and reached base at a .304 clip in a 56-game look in 2019.

It wasn’t until 2021 that he turned into a top-of-the-order force. By then, he signed with the Nationals after not being tendered a contract by the Cubs. He got together with hitting coach Kevin Long and changed his stance, setting up lower to the ground. It enabled Schwarber to use his legs more and move his head less.

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The Nationals moved him into the leadoff spot in mid-June, and voilá! In a 19-game span, he swatted 15 homers, batted .352, and reached base at a .457 clip.

“He made a lot of nice adjustments,” Maddon said. “If you look at pictures back then compared to now, his body doesn’t move as much. His mechanics are better now than they were then. Of course his maturity, and you could just see the calm about him now when he steps into the batter’s box. He’s just matured.”

There was something else, too.

“Oh, he knows why he’s there now,” said Long, now the Phillies’ hitting coach. “He knows he can impact the game right away. He knows that he’s a force to be reckoned with right away. And he knows that he’s going to get more fastballs probably in his first at-bat than any other at-bat, and he takes advantage of that.”

Take, for example, a Sept. 10 game at Citizens Bank Park. Rays righty Taj Bradley flipped a first-pitch cutter in the dirt for a ball. To try to even the count, he threw a get-me-over fastball at 95 mph. Schwarber hit it 437 feet to center field.

But Schwarber could always crush heaters. He slugged .568 against them last season en route to banging a career-high 47 homers and posting an .817 OPS. He also became only the fourth player in Phillies history to reach 40 homers, 100 RBIs, 100 runs, and 100 walks in a season. The others: Mike Schmidt, Jim Thome, and Ryan Howard.

In the offseason, two numbers gnawed at Schwarber: a .197 average (.188 against lefties) and league-leading 215 strikeouts.

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“People think that I’m trying to go up there and just hit homers. That’s not the case,” he said in spring training. “That’s the last thing I’m doing. You just run into [homers], you know?

“I just know that there’s more [of a] hitter in there.”

Schwarber was convinced he could raise his average without sacrificing power. He focused on using more of the field. Last season, he led the league by pulling 52.7% of balls to right field; this year, his pull rate is down to 48.7%. He also has hit in fewer two-strike counts (383, down from a league-leading 433 last season).

The result: Schwarber is batting .250 (.306 vs. lefties) with 195 strikeouts. And with 38 homers, 102 RBIs, 108 runs, 103 walks, and an .859 OPS, he’s having arguably his best all-around offensive season.

“I’ve seen him drive in some runs with just singles this year,” Maddon said. “I think there’s more concession in at-bats when he knows, ‘OK, this guy’s going to be tough on me, man. I’ve got to do something different here.’ And then he knows when he’s feeling really good and he’s going to hunt that pitch and it’s going to go really far.”

Said Schwarber: “Was this a better year? Absolutely. Do I feel like there can be even more better ahead? Absolutely. I know that the punchouts are still up there for me. But I feel like I’ve definitely progressed on some things I wanted to progress on. Now it’s like, ‘OK, what else can you keep progressing on?’”

As a leadoff hitter, Schwarber sees more room for growth. Although he won’t suddenly turn into a base stealer, he tries to be opportunistic on the bases. He has advanced from first to third on a single eight times and second to home on a double three times. He has made only seven outs on the bases.

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“I’m going to have a high on-base, so you’re going to be on base for the dudes behind you,” Schwarber said. “Now it’s on me to make sure that, if Trea [Turner] hits a ball to right-center, I want to try to take advantage and look first-to-third, and next thing you know, we have [Bryce Harper] up. You know what I mean?”

Sure. But the difference-maker for Schwarber will always be his power. It makes him a threat no matter where he bats in a lineup, but as a leadoff hitter, it makes him unique.

“The only thing that’s not prototypical is he doesn’t have the speed,” Long said. “But he’s scoring 100 runs. How many other leadoff hitters are scoring 100? And he can change the score. The pitcher is on the defensive from the get-go. Right from the get-go. That’s why he’s up at the top.”

And there’s no need to defend it any longer.

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