The Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber can’t explain June boom, but hopes to keep it up in July
June Schwarber is real. So what's in store this month? The Phillies slugger is just focusing on "consistent work" to keep it going.
The Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber knows people think he turns into the second coming of Babe Ruth on June 1. He knows his manager would like him to believe that today is June 36 and tomorrow is June 37. He knows there is merit to the hype — that his numbers do skyrocket from May to June. He just doesn’t know why.
“To be honest with you, I don’t really get what’s behind it,” Schwarber said. “There’s always a sense that you get more at-bats, you get more comfortable, things like that, but it’s my job to go out there and be ready every single day. And I didn’t have the first two months I wanted to have. But I didn’t let that affect the way I wanted to go about working. I just knew that I had to keep things consistent and things will turn around.”
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For his career, Schwarber has gone from a .199/.327/.420 hitter in May to .258/.352/.607 in June. The month-to-month shift has been particularly dramatic this year. Schwarber spent his first two months of the 2022 season batting below the Mendoza line, with a .721 and .722 OPS. Then came June.
His batting average jumped from .196 to .272. His slugging percentage jumped from .402 to .680. He posted an OPS of 1.065, and after hitting 11 home runs through April and May, he clobbered a career-high 12 home runs in June, with 27 RBIs. He has 27 home runs — which is sixth all-time by a Phillie before the All-Star break — and is on pace to hit 50 for the season.
That, of course, is assuming that he keeps this up. In the past, he has come back to Earth in July — he hits .237/.333/.491 in that month for his career — and then heats back up in August (.248/.356/.532). FanGraphs’ ZiPS projects that he’ll hit .240/.348/.523 with 18 home runs for the rest of 2022.
It’s anyone’s guess what Schwarber will do the rest of the way. Fans watching the Phillies’ 11-0 win over the Nationals on Tuesday night might have felt a sense of optimism after Schwarber hit two mammoth home runs, but that might have more to do with his opponent than the month he’s playing in — Schwarber has a 1.056 OPS against Washington through 24 games.
The calendar has flipped to July, and Schwarber himself still doesn’t have any answers.
“I’m going to let people believe what they want to believe [about how he hits in June],” he said. “For me, I always go back to the consistent work. Yeah, it was a great month. I had a good month. I want to have another good month in July. So it’s just keeping the same consistent work throughout the month, the week, the day, whatever it is, and go from there. But I’ll let people believe what they want to believe.”
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One thing is for sure — people will keep believing in the legend of June Schwarber until he gives them a reason not to.
“I hope [I don’t stop hitting in July],” he said. “Come back in August.”