An early removal from last night’s Iowa Cubs game was not a coincidence after all.
According to Jesse Rogers, Kyle Schwarber will be coming back up to the big league team today after an 11-game reset in the minor leagues.
The 24-year-old outfielder/catcher hit .343/.477/.714 in his minor league stay, and the strikeouts that pilled up in the first few games had all but evaporated in the last week. In short, he was destroying AAA pitching, which is exactly what you’d expect/want.
Schwarber returns to the big league level where he struggled in what was to be his first full season with the Cubs – his debut in 2015 was a partial year, 2016 was lost to the knee injury, and the World Series was only four games for him. It’s easy to forget all of that, given his trajectory and early success, but this remains an extremely young and inexperienced player. The talent is undeniable, but the fact that he needed a reset and a few minor mechanical adjustments should not be surprising.
Schwarber returns to a .171/.295/.378 big league line, deflated by one of the lowest BABIPs in baseball (.193), which was itself the product of some bad luck, and also too many pulled groundballs into the shift.
The Cubs wanted Schwarber to get back to being a more complete hitter, rather than just a slugger. Hopefully, then, we see him using the whole field more, elevating a little more, and not extending his zone.
Schwarber should be available for today’s important game against the Brewers, and we’ll get a corresponding roster move soon.