Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber out of the lineup again but is ‘trending in the right direction’ after calf strain

NEW YORK — Kyle Schwarber was out of the lineup for the second straight night on Saturday while he recovers from a mild right calf strain. Schwarber said he is “trending in the right direction” but is trying to be cautious so he doesn’t reinjure himself.

“Not going to play today, obviously, but we’ll see if I’ll be available later in the game to pinch hit and see what tomorrow brings,” he said. “If it’s going to keep progressing, that’s good, but obviously we still have a lot more baseball to be played. So we just have to make sure that we’re taking the right steps. I’m a guy that wants to get out and be able to help contribute, but you have to be smart about it, too.”

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Schwarber says he still is day-to-day. In his absence, rookie shortstop Bryson Stott was penciled into the leadoff spot. Stott made his big league debut at the top of the lineup on Friday night against Max Scherzer and went 3-for-4. Even though Stott only has 270 big league at-bats under his belt, Schwarber wasn’t concerned about how the rookie would fare.

“I just gave him crap (about being in the leadoff spot),” he said. “I said he’s back in his home. When he was in the minor leagues, he was batting leadoff. I said, ‘Welcome home, and enjoy it.’ It’s good for him. I’m really excited for him.

“He’s a good hitter. I think that’s the thing we all saw in spring training and we see in the way his at-bats are throughout the year. He’s very patient, he knows the zone, and he puts the bat on the ball. He’s going to take a walk. He’s going to find the barrel. He’s going to move the baseball around. And you’ve seen how he’s not fazed by big moments and that’s all positive. It’s impressive. It’s hard to do that as a young player, to take emotions out of big situations, but the way that he does it, it’s really cool to see.”

Second baseman Jean Segura also was out of the lineup Saturday, but just as a precautionary measure. Segura was taken off the 60-day injured list (right index finger fracture) on Aug. 3 and interim manager Rob Thomson has been trying to ease him back into everyday play.

“He’s gone three days, day off,” Thomson said. “Four days, today’s the day off. So we’ll run him right through the off day, and we’ll be probably good to go after that.”

Right-handed starter Zach Eflin, who was placed on the 15-day injured list on June 28 (retroactive to June 26) with a right knee bruise, is not with the Phillies in New York. Eflin is back in Philadelphia doing his throwing program. He isn’t throwing off a mound yet, and the Phillies don’t expect him to be able to throw off a mound by the time they return from their road trip on Aug. 19.