Philadelphia Phillies Star Slugger Going To Be in Mix for End of Season Accolade

A Philadelphia Phillies slugger has put himself in a position to earn some accolades this season.

May 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber (12) watches his home run during the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies have had to battle some inconsistencies with their lineup over the first month of the 2025 MLB regular season.

A few players they were counting on to be key contributors have not yet found their groove at the plate. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been a major disappointment, still looking for his first home run of the season.

Star first baseman Bryce Harper isn’t playing up to his normal standard either, but is expected to pick things up. Center fielder Brandon Marsh, prior to landing on the injured list, was struggling in every facet of the game and is in need of a bounce back.

But, there have been a few bright spots offensively that has excited fans in the early going.

One of them is the performance of designated hitter, Kyle Schwarber.

Manager Rob Thomson made a big change with his lineup this year, deciding to remove the on-base machine out of the leadoff spot. Trea Turner was going to fill that spot in 2025 with Schwarber moving into the clean up role.

The thought behind such a move was taking more advantage of the power he provides, hoping it would turn into more consistent offensive production.

Schwarber has certainly answered the call, continuing to produce at a very high level as the ultimate three outcome performer.

He leads the National League with 11 home runs and has 26 RBI; the next closest on the Phillies is Harper with six and 17; Nick Castellanos also has 17 RBI on the year.

Schwarber is also pacing the team with 27 walks and 33 strikeouts. His 164 OPS+ is the best on the team by a significant margin and he has already racked up 1.2 WAR despite being amongst the worst baserunners in baseball and offering no value as a fielder, per Baseball Savant.

Despite that, he is someone that a panel of MLB experts believes will be in the mix for a spot on the All-MLB team.

As shared by Jason Foster of MLB.com, Schwarber still has some work to do, but did receive votes from the panel. He has to catch Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Marcell Ozuna of the Atlanta Braves.

Both sluggers are having very strong campaigns, but Schwarber should not be ignored in this race given the production he has provided looks to be sustainable.

He has a .242/.397/.558 slash line and is putting up some elite advanced stats. His xwOBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, bat speed, chase rate and walk rate are all in the 95th percentile or higher.

If his teammates can start to heat up, Philadelphia’s offense would start producing at their expected clip with Schwarber in the run-producing clean up spot.