CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2013 It didn\u2019t take Kyle Schwarber long to do what he did better than anyone else in the National League last season.<\/p>\n
Schwarber, who led the league with 56 homers in 2025, went deep in his first at-bat of the Grapefruit League season on Sunday. The home run, against Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Braxton Ashcraft, came off the bat at 108.7 mph and traveled 438 feet to right field. In other words, a bomb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a good swing off,\u201d Schwarber said. \u201cBut the wind was blowing and that made it look further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schwarber doesn\u2019t often rack up eye-popping results in spring training. Last year, he went 9 for 49 (.184) with two home runs. The year before, he was 5 for 38 (.132) with no homers. But Schwarber is a veteran player and a proven big-league performer. For those types, membership\u00a0has its privileges: He uses spring training to get ready for the regular season. Results are secondary at this time of year. He has finished 15th\u00a0and second, respectively, in NL MVP voting the last two seasons so those lackluster springs clearly didn’t carry over.<\/p>\n
Schwarber hit second in the Phillies\u2019 lineup Sunday, behind leadoff man Trea Turner and ahead of No. 3 hitter Bryce Harper and cleanup man Alec Bohm. It\u2019s possible that Schwarber and Harper will flip-flop in the regular season. Or things could stay the same. Manager Rob Thomson will use different variations throughout spring training. Schwarber\u2019s goal is to just be ready when the bell rings March 26 at Citizens Bank Park.<\/p>\n
Actually, Schwarber will need to be ready earlier than that. He will play on Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. First game is March 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, Schwarber doesn\u2019t hit in spring training so (the home run) was good to see,\u201d Thomson said after the 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh. \u201cAnd Bohmer (sacrifice fly, double) stung the ball really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Schwarber is and will be the Phillies\u2019 primary DH, he could get some work at first base this spring just in case an emergency arises during the regular season. That work could actually come in workout situations. For now \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get his bat ready for the WBC,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n
It looked good on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe understands the strike zone,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cHe can hit velocity, hit off-speed stuff, shoot the ball the other way. He\u2019s improved overall as a hitter. It\u2019s not just the power. He can use the whole field and pull the ball with the best of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite chilly temperatures, Sunday\u2019s home opener drew 8,157.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat crowd, especially with the weather,\u201d Schwarber said. \u201cA little rain then the cold front that pushed through. It\u2019s always great when the berm is full and you get the stadium going and everybody gets that buzz going. To see fans down here ready to rock and roll for game 1 (of the home Grapefruit League schedule) that gets us to game 1 (of the regular season) is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
AIDAN MILLER DOWN<\/p>\n
Infield prospect Aidan Miller is sidelined with a sore lower back. It has kept him out of the first two games. It is not considered serious. He is receiving treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just being super cautious with him this early in camp,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting him some treatment to calm it down.\u201d<\/p>\n
EAST COAST BOUND<\/p>\n
The Phillies play the next two days on Florida\u2019s East Coast \u2013 Monday against Washington in West Palm Beach and Tuesday against Miami in Jupiter.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2013 It didn\u2019t take Kyle Schwarber long to do what he did better than anyone else…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-587815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116118269733762391","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}