When the Cubs promoted Addison Russell to the big leagues last week, Kyle Schwarber became the top position player prospect in the Cubs organization and arguably the best minor leaguer in what is still considered a stacked system.
Dan Vogelbach has been garnering all of the attention with the tremendous start he’s had to the season. But Kyle Schwarber has been very consistent and is heating up at the plate while continuing to improve defensively.
Kyle Schwarber hit home runs in back-to-back games (Monday and Tuesday) and he entered play Wednesday riding a seven-game hitting streak.
Five of those seven games were multi-hit games and four of the seven included extra base knocks.
For the season, Kyle Schwarber is hitting .388/.484/.735 (19-for-49) in 15 games with three doubles, a triple and four home runs for a 1.219 OPS. Schwarber has 11 walks with 14 strikeouts in 49 at bats.
Kyle Schwarber was hit in the head Monday night on a follow through and went to the ground. Schwarber left the field on his own power and led off the next inning with his third homer of the season.
Jason McLeod spent time with the Smokies earlier in the week and recently talked about the improvements Schwarber has made as a receiver. Schwarber is learning how to catch in pro ball after not being taught how to play the position before the Cubs selected him in the first round of last June’s draft.
“It’s been a great year of development for him. And this is no knock on anyone that was at Indiana but just what he had to do receiving wise to catch what we feel is at the Major League level in time, he’s worked his tail off.”
“You see it every single day now. When he was in big league camp he was catching [Jake] Arrieta and all of those guys there,” McLeod said on MLB Network Radio. “He’s got tremendous hands and he’s moving very well behind the plate. Last night he had a sub-2 throwing time on a runner down to second base. So the process has been great with him.”
“I know I can speak for all of us in the organization, we feel very confident that he is going to be able to catch in the Major Leagues and be a force at the plate.”
Many outside of the Cubs’ organization question if Schwarber will be able to catch in the majors. If the Cubs are right and Schwarber is able to be a good receiver at the big league level, he will help balance the lineup and provide incredible value to the team in the near future.