I will always have a soft spot for Frank Schwindel, even if his time with the Chicago Cubs was brief, and ended a few months ago.
The former BACK-TO-BACK NL Rookie of the Month could be off to his next challenge, this time playing in Japan:
Schwindel, 30, is currently playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic (.171/.237/.229 over 11 games), and his options thereafter would likely be a minor league deal with an MLB organization, or going overseas to play. The Nikkan report seems to indicate that the Buffaloes want to sign Schwindel, but it doesn’t read like things are final quite yet.
I hope it happens for him, because guys like Schwindel can make a lot more money playing in Japan than they could trying to hang around minor league ball and get a short-term big league promotion.
Schwindel hit .342/.389/.613/164 wRC+ over 56 games with the Cubs in 2021, but struggled through injuries and ineffectiveness in 2022 (.229/.277/.358/78 wRC+ over 75 games).