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Kyle Schwarber Could Join One of MLB's Most Exclusive Clubs

Kyle Schwarber is on pace to hit more than 50 home runs, a feat no Philadelphia Phillie has accomplished since Ryan Howard.

Author:
Leo Morgenstern
Jul 21, 2022 1:00 PM EDT

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Philadelphia Phillies

Kyle Schwarber did not have his best stuff on display Monday night at the Home Run Derby, losing to 42-year-old Albert Pujols in the first round.

Nevertheless, the Philadelphia Phillies slugger has been one of the very best home run hitters in baseball this year. He leads the National League in long balls at the midway point of the season, trailing only Aaron Judge for the Major League lead.

Schwarber has hit 29 home runs in his first 90 games. With 70 left to play, he is on pace to hit another 23. Even if he misses a couple games, as he did in the first half, he would still be on pace for 21 homers.

If he can keep knocking balls out of the park like he has been, the Phillies left-fielder is on his way to a 50+ home run season.

Hitting 50 homers in a season is tough task. The last hitter to do it was Pete Alonso in 2019. Before him, it was Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge in 2017. And before that, the last hitter to do it was Chris Davis in 2013.

Indeed, it is such a tough task that Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia's all-time home run king, was never able to accomplish it. He led the league in homers eight times, but the Hall of Fame third baseman topped out at 48 long balls in 1980.

Since Babe Ruth first accomplished the feat in 1920, only 29 other hitters have joined the 50-homer club. It’s one of the most iconic — and exclusive — clubs in baseball history.

In fact, the only Phillies player to ever hit more than 50 home runs in a season was Ryan Howard, who did so in his 2006 MVP campaign. Howard hit 58 homers that year, a feat which has only been topped once in the last twenty years, when Stanton hit 59 in 2017.

If Schwarber can continue at his torrid pace, he would become the second player in Phillies history to hit more than 50 home runs in a season. He would have hit more homers in a single season than franchise legend Schmidt ever did. It's quite an impressive feat to chase.

Kyle Schwarber has hit 10 home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in his big league career.
Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

It won't be easy for Schwarber to hit 50 home runs this year. There's a reason only four hitters have done it in the past decade. He would need to hit a homer every three or four games for the rest of the year. That's a lot of long balls.

That being said, Schwarber is already on the right track. His 29 home runs are the second-most ever for a Phillies hitter in the first half of a season. Only Schmidt, who hit 32 first-half homers in 1979, has him beat.

Even Howard never managed to hit 29 balls out of the park before the All-Star Game. In 2006, the eventual NL MVP hit just 28 homers in the first half, albeit in six fewer games than Schwarber.

If Howard could hit 30 home runs in the second half of 2006, Schwarber can certainly hit 21.

The left-handed outfielder has been seeing the ball well this season and making tremendous contact. He is barreling the ball more than any other hitter in baseball, and more than half of his balls in play have registered as hard hit according to Statcast.

By any measurement you look at, Schwarber has been one of the best pure power hitters in baseball. If he keeps swinging like he has been, he's going to become just the second slugger in franchise history to hit 50 home runs in a season.