I wasn’t able to properly celebrate yesterday’s two huge dingers, and I wanted to remedy that this morning to get our Sunday mornings going. Consider it your Sunday morning church of baseball.
Kyle Schwarber kicked off the scoring in yesterday’s game with a mammoth shot to right center:
.@kschwarb12: Destroyer of baseballs. pic.twitter.com/g6r1ppYFrw
— MLB (@MLB) August 4, 2018
That was 107 eeeeeeasy mph off the bat, and 405 feet way out. And believe it or not, that wasn’t even Schwarber’s only barrel on the day:
Kyle Schwarber (29) off RHP Walker Lockett (4) – 104.7 mph, 24 degrees (367 ft Double)
79.9 mph Curveball#Padres @ #Cubs (B5) pic.twitter.com/xjAFuHB83G— MLBBarrelAlert (@MLBBarrelAlert) August 4, 2018
In any other park, that’s a two homer day for Schwarber. But, alas, the wells in right and left field. Still a huge shot, and brought his season line up to .250/.369/.487 with a 124 wRC+.
The homer was Schwarber’s 20th of the year, making him the first Cubs outfielder to have back-to-back 20+ homer seasons since Alfonso Soriano six years ago (Muskat). That’s wild. Not a lot of power out there in recent years.
The @Cubs Kyle Schwarber gets all of this ball, and the celebrates the trot with Brian Butterfield. #everybodyin @kschwarb12 @BleacherNation @realcubsinsider pic.twitter.com/EhK2PsNCZm
— MBDChicago (@MBDChicago) August 5, 2018
Meanwhile, Anthony Rizzo one-upped Schwarber by hitting a multi-run shot quite a bit further:
.@ARizzo44 is hitting .667 since he wasn't named NL Pitcher of the Month for July. #TeamRizzo pic.twitter.com/wuLPIIqA2u
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 4, 2018
That one was 108 mph off the bat and 444 feet out to center. Oh, and like Schwarber, it wasn’t Rizzo’s only barrel of the day either:
Anthony Rizzo (21) off RHP Walker Lockett (3) – 105.4 mph, 20 degrees (394 ft Double)
86.2 mph Changeup#Padres @ #Cubs (B4) pic.twitter.com/McEK4XW3kw— MLBBarrelAlert (@MLBBarrelAlert) August 4, 2018
Rizzo has now homered five times in his last nine games, and we are reminded that, for as consistent has he’s been in end-of-the-season numbers, the guy is incredibly streaky. Keep that hot streak going, my dude.
For Rizzo, it was homer number 17, and pushed his season line up to .264/.361/.450 with a 115 wRC+. Think he knew it was gone?