The Philadelphia Phillies have been the best offense in baseball during the postseason.
One thing they do better than everyone else is hit the long ball.
They are out-homering their opponents 18-4 so far in the playoffs.
One player who plays a big role in all of their home runs is leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber.
When most people think of a prototypical leadoff hitter they think of a good contact hitter with good speed.
Schwarber is neither of those things.
He is one of the worst contact hitters in all of baseball.
But, what he does do well is get on base at a high rate.
Schwarber was second in baseball in walks this season with 126.
Even though he only hit .197 during the year, he had an on-base percentage of .343.
According to Jesse Rogers, Schwarber talked about how he has gotten used to batting leadoff.
Even if the results have been far from perfect.
Kyle Schwarber on having success while hitting lead-off: “I’ve had a lot of at-bats there. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve sucked at it. I’ve had a lot of trial and error, and luckily, over the last few seasons, the last probably three seasons, it’s been pretty consistent in that spot.”
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) October 18, 2023
Sometimes all a player needs is to get comfortable in a spot to have success.
Even though Schwarber is not your prototypical leadoff hitter, he may be one of the most valuable in the league.
Schwarber has one of the top power bats in baseball and the Phillies lineup feeds off him.
In Game 2 of the NLCS, Schwarber hit two home runs and led the Phillies to a 10-0 victory.
With the way the Phillies have been going, no changes are needed to their lineup.
It does not matter if they face a righty or lefty, Schwarber will be in that leadoff spot.
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