Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber joins a stacked MLB home run derby field

TORONTO — Kyle Schwarber didn’t immediately commit to participating in the home run derby. He gave it some thought, and, after he was voted into the All-Star Game, he began to hear from his teammates. They kept asking him if he’d enter, and, finally, he announced that he would Tuesday on his Instagram account.

The home run derby field will be stacked — Pete Alonso, Juan Soto, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Albert Pujols will be participating — but Schwarber is no underdog. He ranks second in baseball and first in the National League in home runs, with 28. His manager, Rob Thomson, joked before Tuesday’s game that Schwarber puts on a home run derby every day, so whatever he does next Monday will be no different.

» READ MORE: The legend of Kyle Schwarber’s home run power, from high school and college to the Phillies

The last time Schwarber participated in a home run derby was in 2018, when he fell just short of a title after his current teammate, Bryce Harper, hit nine home runs in a minute to tie Schwarber and walked it off during his 30-second bonus round. Schwarber said he learned a lot from that experience — mainly to pace himself.

“I think I can learn from my mistakes that I made back then, to not go full-blown 100% right away,” he said Tuesday. “Just keep working into it so you don’t get too sore. I remember last time I did it, I took 100% swings for three minutes straight and didn’t feel great the next day. So just trying to do that and make sure it’s like a regular batting practice round instead of trying to go out there and hit homers. That’s going to be the biggest thing.”

Aside from wanting to appease his teammates, Schwarber said that he felt it was important to represent the Phillies in the competition.

“I was just looking into it, being in my first year with the Phillies and things like that,” he said. “Just a little bit of representation there for the fan base.”

Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said third baseman Alec Bohm, who dislocated the ring finger on his left hand on Monday night, traveled to Miami and will meet the Phillies there on Friday ahead of their three-game set against the Marlins. The Phillies will reevaluate Bohm on Friday. Thomson said the third baseman is still in a “little” bit of pain but that some swelling has gone down in his ring finger.

Reliever Connor Brogdon will pitch Wednesday in Lehigh Valley, and reliever JoJo Romero will pitch there Tuesday night. Brogdon was placed on the COVID-19-related injured list June 25, and Romero was placed on the 60-day injured list March 12 after undergoing Tommy John surgery on May 25, 2021.

» READ MORE: Phillies must find a current and future starting pitcher at the trade deadline

Brogdon felt some forearm fatigue coming off his first rehab outing on Thursday, but his second outing, on Sunday, went well. If his outing on Wednesday goes well, he could rejoin the Phillies in Miami, according to Thomson.

Infielder Nick Maton’s rehab assignment was transferred from single-A Clearwater to triple-A Lehigh Valley, and infielder Johan Camargo’s rehab assignment was transferred from Lehigh Valley to double-A Reading on Tuesday. Thomson said Camargo will play third base at Reading because Lehigh Valley is about to go on the road, and they are “gearing up for what we see with Alec [Bohm] coming up.” ... The Phillies placed Bohm, Aaron Nola, Kyle Gibson, and J.T. Realmuto on the restricted list on Tuesday because they are unvaccinated and ineligible to play in Toronto. As corresponding moves, they recalled catcher Rafael Marchan on Tuesday and selected right-handed pitcher Nick Duron from triple-A Lehigh Valley as substitute players.

» READ MORE: Bad teammates J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm are unvaccinated, but the Phillies won’t miss them