Time Flies for Kyle Schwarber, Who's Still Crushing it in His 11th Major-League Season

Kyle Schwarber admits he has a hard time believing this is his 11th season in the major leagues. He still feels like his time at Indiana wasn't that long ago. But the postseason hero is still one of the most feared hitters in the game.

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber gives a thumb's up sign after hitting a three-run home run. He has 11 on the season, which leads the National League. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

TAMPA, Fla. — Kyle Schwarber is standing in front of his locker in the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field, and he's laughing and smiling and telling stories. The Ohio native and Indiana graduate — who was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft — can't believe how quickly all the years have flown by.

“I think about it all the time, about it being 11 years (in the major leagues) already,'' Schwarber said before the Phillies' game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. "It just seems like I was just in high school, just at Indiana. You look back at being drafted and then going to the (Chicago) Cubs and Washington and Boston and here, and you can’t believe it because you still feel young at heart, right?

“I still feel young, still feel ready to go. But I have a family now, kids now, and it’s fun. That’s another thing, you just really never want to take anything for granted. I still love coming to the ballpark every day.''

Schwarber, who turned 32 years old on March 5, is one of the more recognizable faces in baseball because he shows up on your TV set every October. During his 10 years in the bigs, he's only missed the postseason once.

And when he's there, he's filling up highlight reels.

It all started his rookie year in 2015 with the Chicago Cubs. He hit five postseason homers in leading the Cubs to the NLCS. The following year, he tore his ACL in the second game of the season, but when the Cubs started advancing in the 2016 postseason, Schwarber was off to Arizona to get some swings in post-rehab, just in case.

And when the Cubs made it to the World Series, it seemed like a made-for-TV movie that Schwarber was penciled in the lineup. He played in five games as a DH and had seven hits in 17 at-bats, a .412 average.

He helped the Cubs win the World Series, their first in 108 years. He played four more years with the Cubs, with middling results, and then spent a year in Washington and then Boston. He signed with the Phillies, and has become a star with them. He's been injury-free for three-plus years, mostly as one of the most-feared leadoff hitters in the game. Since 2022, he's played in at least 150 games every year, and he's played in all 34 this season.

In Philadelphia, he's hit 142 home runs in three-plus years, which is second in baseball to only Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees. He's got 11 home runs already this season in 34 games, tops in the National League.

He batted leadoff nine times early in the season, but Phillies manager Rob Thompson hits him third or fourth now. He's still raking.

He's dangerous as hell in any spot.

“Now that I’m kind of out it right now and more in the three, four hole, it’s a little different. It doesn’t get talked about as much, '' Schwarber said of being an unconventional — but extremely successful — leadoff hitter for several years now. "There was that stigma of a bigger guy, not a fast guy, leading off with power. The biggest misconception of all that, though, I just took that out of my game. My approach to hitting is the same. I was never going up there trying to be any different because I always see pitches well. I can get on base by a walk or a hit and you’re just trying to set it up for the next guy.  I loved that role.

“I feel like, too, in that (leadoff) position, I didn’t want the (pitcher) to settle in right away. I could see some pitches, and maybe force some higher stress pitches from the guy right away, and set it up for the two, three and four guys. It really worked well for us, and now this works, too.'

The Phillies have had one of baseball's most potent lineups since Schwarber arrived. Their core group along with Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto are a feared bunch. They won a National League pennant in 2022 before losing the World Series to the Houston Astros. They reached the NLCS again in 2023, but lost in seven games to Arizona.

They won 95 games a year ago, taking the NL East, but lost to their hated division rival, the New York Mets, in the NLDS.

They've been World Series threats throughout Schwarber's time in Philly — his four-year, $79 million expires this year — and they are postseason threats again this year. They've come close — so close — but have falled short of getting measured for that World Series ring.

It's hurt, as expected.

“If you go around to all 30 teams and ask them what their goal is, they’re all going to tell you the same thing. It’s about winning a World Series,'' Schwarber said. "I have a unique perspective on that because this is going to be my 11th season and I’ve missed the playoffs once. That should tell you a lot. But In 10 playoff seasons, I’ve only been to the World Series twice and won it once. It’s really a hard thing to do. I’ve been on a lot of really great teams, but it’s just hard to do. You’ve got to be playing right at the right time, and doing a lot of things right. 

“That doesn’t take anything away from our group, because we’ve shown that we can get there. Winning the World Series, it just shows how difficult it is. People ask me about 2016 all the time with the Cubs, and this (2025 Phillies team) is very similar group, and that’s a great thing. There’s a lot of great talent, great personalities, on this team and we’re all very closer. ''

The Phillies are 19-15 so far this season, three games behind the Mets. Schwarber has a 40-game on-base streak that dates back to September. The lineup is still loaded, and the pitching is still good. They are still a confident bunch.

"We all think we’re very capable of holding up a World Series trophy at the end of the year,'' he said "That’s our goal. 2022 hurts just as much as '21 or '23, and '24 hurts too. They all hurt, because you want it so bad. You want that to be a driving factor each year, being that last team standing that’s holding up that trophy.

"With 162 games, you try to put yourself in position to be in the postseason. During those 162, you try to pinpoint what we need to be better at, what we need to work on. And when you get there, you hope you’ve identified everything and you’re firing on all cylinders. When you look at this team one through nine, you just can’t take a breather. There’s a lot of different games that are being put throughout our order. There’s power, there’s speed, there’s contact, there’s walk. A lot of different things in our lineup.'' 

Schwarber is still a Hoosier at heart. He's the highest draft pick ever in IU history, going No. 4 overall to the Cubs. He also led them to their only College World Series appearance in 2013. He gets back to Bloomington when he can. They had a 10-year CWS reunion in 2023 and last fall he was a big part — and a hilarious one at that — of College Gameday's first trip ever to Bloomington in October when undefeated Indiana, college football darlings in 2024, hosted Washington.

Kyle Schwarber and Lee Corso pick Indiana to win on College Gameday before the start of the Indiana-Washington football game at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 26, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Schwarber was the guest picker, and he showed up in Indiana basketball candy-stripe pants, an Indiana football jersey and an IU baseball helmet.

It was a great weekend for him, just being a part of it.

“It was fantastic being back in Bloomington for that,'' he said. "I was actually out hunting when I got the call. They asked me if I wanted to do ‘’College Gameday’’ and I said, ‘absolutely.’ They do everything first class, and they flew me in. I had a chance to bounce around and see a lot of people, and then they had me on set, and that was a blast. It was just so much fun, and what a great atmosphere. Bloomington was so great, and it was a lot of fun.

“I always love going to Bloomington. We had our 10-year reunion the year before (2023) and my son was there for that, seeing where dad played baseball. Bloomington is just the best. It’s an underrated college campus, and it’s the greatest college experience.’’