"Time makes fools of us all" - The Kyle Schwarber Thread

[minnesotacubsfan]

Pretty sure that was Matt Stairs

Nah, I'd remember that. Some guy from the 70s or 80s, maybe an Oriole, possibly Brian or Patrick in the name. I always remember the narrative but not the player...IIRC he also wore glasses

Don. Don Baylor. Had to have been.

[TomtheBombadil]

it's weird to refer to working out as being woke.

Oh, yeah. Some of these things sneak past my lazy no good editor

[UMFan83]

A relatively small sample of 106 PAs but did anyone notice Kyle Schwarber has an .821 OPS against LHP this year? Joe has him in platoon jail for 2 years, might not be smart to do that anymore

[Tryptamine]

Not sure what he changed at the ASB but since then

165PAs .264/.358/.667 with 16 bombs on a .222babip. His first half K% was 28.3 and his second half has dropped to 17.6%. That's good for a 154wRC+.

[TomtheBombadil]

What a great horsefeathering thread title for this guy...I could not be more on the bandwagon of Kyle Schwarber than I am right now, glad to see a nice summary of why along with Theo getting all wordy and giddy:

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/ ... astellanos

The case for trading Schwarber makes sense: It would be selling at potentially the height of his value. It could also free up a corner outfield spot and subsequent money to bring back fan favorite Nicholas Castellanos (it would be hard to fit both Schwarber and Castellanos on the roster long-term).

But consider this: Schwarber performed almost as well as Castellanos down the stretch last season, putting up a .997 OPS after the All-Star Break compared to Castellanos' 1.002 OPS following the trade from the Tigers. Those totals were good for seventh and eighth in the National League in the second half.

Schwarber also ranked 11th in the NL in wRC+ (151) in the second half, just behind Castellanos and Anthony Rizzo. That led to a number of career highs for Schwarber this season, including homers (38), RBI (92), batting average (.250), slugging percentage (.531), OPS (.871) and doubles (29).

Chalk it up to a small sample all you want, but this is nearly half a season (257 plate appearances) where Schwarber was one of the best hitters in the league and it certainly seems like the 26-year-old finally reached his potential.

"There were obviously a lot of ups and downs [this season], but pretty pleased by how I handled it," Schwarber said during the last series of the year in St. Louis. "Overall, on a personal side there, it was definitely a positive."

Schwarber wouldn't completely acknowledge that something "clicked" in his second half, instead crediting his mindset and how he avoided riding the roller coaster of getting too high or low after each game.

The mindset also carried over into his approach at the plate, where he stopped trying to pull the ball so much and went to the opposite field more than ever before.

The development in the mental game has led to tangible changes on the stat sheet that very well might hold up over time. For example, Schwarber hit the ball on the ground less in 2019 than ever before and subsequently increased his line drive percentage. He also hit the ball harder overall, dipping to a career-best 12.7 percent low contact rate.

He silenced some of the doubters about his ability to make an impact against left-handed pitching, posting an .809 OPS against southpaws in the second half and carving out consistent playing time down the stretch regardless of the opposing pitcher.

It all adds up to a true breakout and Schwarber might just be scratching the surface of what he's fully capable of.

"I think he made some adjustments," Theo Epstein said on ESPN radio in an interview with David Kaplan and Pat Boyle last week. "Some of it was mindset and belief and approach and some of it was a little bit fundamental mechanics of the swing. But just the combination led to a really confident hitter up there who's dictating a little bit more instead of being reactive — not trying to cover every single hole, but going up there with a really good gameplan.

"More of the rhythm and timing to his swing — the prepitch movement that is a little bit unconventional, but it allowed him to always be on time as an amateur and as a minor-league player. When he's locked in like that and feeling good and has the right kind of approach, he's extremely dangerous. I think it just gets back to what we talk about with development not being linear in baseball — you never know when it's gonna click. A lot of guys have to go up and back — Triple-A to the big leagues a couple different times and in Kyle's case, he missed a whole year [due to injury]. He had that one really rough season initially in the leadoff spot and then had to go back to the minor leagues.

"I think he's reached that point where he's turned the corner and can be really impactful middle-of-the-order bat for years to come."

I'm a huge fan of the swing change, the approach, the mentality, the durability, that he turned himself into an average defensive OF after a lot of [expletive], the overall career track, and now all that stuff about stuff about his makeup and being a FO favorite makes all the sense

Slick Happ endorsement from Theo in there maybe

[Bull]

Kyle struck out a lot less in the second half, and I think that accounts for the change.

How do you account for the fewer K's? I think reputation. Early in the year, Kyle got rung up on a lot of balls out of the zone. As umpires got feedback on their varied degrees of awfulness, I think they learned that Kyle is always right. He now has the reputation that "if Kyle Schwarber didn't swing at it, it wasn't a strike." I think this changes everything forever for Kyle.

I'd like to see some stats on called strikes and called strikes out of the zone in the first vs. second half if anyone knows where I can find those.

[muntjack]

This seems like a good time and place to go on record in support of Schwarber. He had a 3 WAR year last year at 25, is only now getting consistent PAs vs. LHP (he's improved every year) and I think he has another level coming. Just my opinion.

I'm probably going to quote myself here every time Kyle does even the slightest thing of note....

From Jun. 27th, when everyone was piling on him. *coughs loudly and pats self on back*

[squally1313]

This seems like a good time and place to go on record in support of Schwarber. He had a 3 WAR year last year at 25, is only now getting consistent PAs vs. LHP (he's improved every year) and I think he has another level coming. Just my opinion.

I'm probably going to quote myself here every time Kyle does even the slightest thing of note....

From Jun. 27th, when everyone was piling on him. *coughs loudly and pats self on back*

It was some idiot named Rynomites with 27 total posts and then a bunch of us jumping in to defend Schwarber. But sure dude, here's some message board points.

[muntjack]

I dislike Schwarber as much as the next guy, but Vogelbach wouldn't have ever been a LF option so there's no need to bring him into this.

[muntjack]

Homeboy is slashing .170 .279 .283 .562 over the last month, so we might be past "he's playing hurt" into "he just sucks and is old"-territory*.






*I think he's a turd player, so I MIGHT be biased.

[Sammy Sofa]

Homeboy is slashing .170 .279 .283 .562 over the last month, so we might be past "he's playing hurt" into "he just sucks and is old"-territory*.






*I think he's a turd player, so I MIGHT be biased.

That was about Descalso. Like, why would I have been saying Schwarber is old?

[David]

Homeboy is slashing .170 .279 .283 .562 over the last month, so we might be past "he's playing hurt" into "he just sucks and is old"-territory*.






*I think he's a turd player, so I MIGHT be biased.

If the "old" part wasn't enough to tip you off, the post right above that is a pretty solid indicator that he was talking about Danny Barefoot.

[David]

I dislike Schwarber as much as the next guy, but Vogelbach wouldn't have ever been a LF option so there's no need to bring him into this.

And THIS is your other example?

[squally1313]

No, no, keep going. The coolest people around here are the ones that remember every half assed prediction they made 12 months prior, and will continue to shoehorn it into their messages later on when one of them kinda comes true. Everyone loves those posts.

[muntjack]

Dude, it was completely tongue-in-cheek, and in the sixteen years I've been on here, I've very rarely come out and made any kind of statement like that. I luckily posted it right before he went on a tear that lasted the rest of the season, and tried to make an affable post out of it. I certainly didn't think I'd get attacked for it, but do what you need to do.

[muntjack]

Homeboy is slashing .170 .279 .283 .562 over the last month, so we might be past "he's playing hurt" into "he just sucks and is old"-territory*.






*I think he's a turd player, so I MIGHT be biased.

That was about Descalso. Like, why would I have been saying Schwarber is old?

My fault. Sometimes you have unique takes on things.

[minnesotacubsfan]

well, yea, but thats better then total group-think

[squally1313]

Dude, it was completely tongue-in-cheek, and in the sixteen years I've been on here, I've very rarely come out and made any kind of statement like that. I luckily posted it right before he went on a tear that lasted the rest of the season, and tried to make an affable post out of it. I certainly didn't think I'd get attacked for it, but do what you need to do.

Was it tongue in cheek when you tried to post evidence about why you were right? Just making sure I know which parts you were kidding about.

I mean, yeah, not a big deal. The whole 'like I've been saying for months/years now...' goes well beyond you around here. But it was a weird brag on liking a player that's pretty well liked around these parts.

[muntjack]

Was it tongue in cheek when you tried to post evidence about why you were right? Just making sure I know which parts you were kidding about.

Nah, I just wanted to defend my memory. Honestly, I remembered everything from "Kyle is not a major league player" to "get anything you can for him" "platoon him", etc. I couldn't find those but like I said, I don't usually make statements on here, at all, so I feel like it certainly took more than some troll (I've seen plenty of those here over the years) to do it.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

For the record, I still dislike Schwarber.

[New York Cubs Fan]

For the record, I still dislike Schwarber.

Is this some sort of hedge? Either he's good or you're right? You're going to feel dumb next year.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

For the record, I still dislike Schwarber.

Is this some sort of hedge? Either he's good or you're right? You're going to feel dumb next year.

The odds of me feeling dumb are high, but it has nothing to do with anything that dumb monkey does.

[chopsx9]

Pretty sure that was Matt Stairs

Nah, I'd remember that. Some guy from the 70s or 80s, maybe an Oriole, possibly Brian or Patrick in the name. I always remember the narrative but not the player...IIRC he also wore glasses

Greg Luzinski?

[Bull]

Stop arguing about stupid stuff and tell me why my post above about called strikes is wrong and dumb. Thanks.

[TomtheBombadil]

Pretty sure that was Matt Stairs

Nah, I'd remember that. Some guy from the 70s or 80s, maybe an Oriole, possibly Brian or Patrick in the name. I always remember the narrative but not the player...IIRC he also wore glasses

Greg Luzinski?

I think it might be Rocky Colavito, who is none of the things I suggest in that post, but yeah still don't remember for sure