I won’t say that Kyle Schwarber was “sent down” by the Chicago Cubs, because, while that’s technically true, he actually just received his promotion.
By way of a stop in the big leagues as the Cubs’ DH, Schwarber’s progress at AA earned him a promotion to AAA, and that’s where he now heads. The official transaction will come before tomorrow night’s game.
He’ll keep working behind the plate, hopefully showing enough improvement there by mid-August that the Cubs can bring him back up as a bench bat/occasional starter (behind the plate and/or in the outfield), and that the Cubs can plan on him being a contributor as catcher, at least part-time, in 2016.
In his brief sojourn in the bigs, Schwarber had 8 hits in 22 at bats, including a homer and a triple. He walked once (intentional) and struck out 8 times. That’s more strikeouts than you’d expect to see from Schwarber when he gets comfortable, but it’s about what you’d expect from a 22-year-old making the leap to the big leagues just one year out of college, with no experience above AA.
I can’t wait to see how Schwarber handles AAA, and we can start dreaming on his return – barring a rash of injuries that accelerates things, or an injury of his own that slows things – around mid-August, heading into early September. Somewhere in that range.
Hopefully he’ll be a contributor to a serious playoff contender.