Exploring 4 different Phillies lineup options with Kyle Schwarber

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So what does the addition of Kyle Schwarber do for the Phillies' lineup?

Let's look at several different variations, assuming health and that the regular group of position players is mostly set.

Schwarber carries obvious middle-of-the-order power appeal with 81 home runs the last three seasons, two fewer than Bryce Harper and one fewer than Freddie Freeman. 

But you can also lead him off or hit him second because of his selectivity. Schwarber is comfortable running deep counts and knows the strike zone well enough to lay off borderline pitches. He walks a lot and the Phillies needed another player willing to take his walks because outside of Harper and Andrew McCutchen, it was something they did not do frequently last season. Rhys Hoskins, who many Phillies fans thought walked too much in his first four seasons, was more aggressive in 2021 before his season-ending abdominal tear, connecting for extra-base hits at a higher rate while his walk rate dipped by a third. That trade-off worked for Hoskins and the Phillies, but it also meant a .370 OBP guy was losing about 35 points of it.

The reason you wouldn't want to bat Schwarber high in the order is to give him more RBI opportunities. Last season, 17 of his 32 homers came out of the leadoff spot and eight were to start the first inning. Those are great tone-setters, but so are three-run bombs.

If Schwarber leads off:

1. LF Kyle Schwarber (L)

2. 2B Jean Segura 

3. RF Bryce Harper (L)

4. C J.T. Realmuto

5. 1B Rhys Hoskins

6. 3B/DH Didi Gregorius (L)

7. DH/3B Alec Bohm 

8. CF Odubel Herrera (L)

9. SS Bryson Stott (L)

Keep in mind that the bottom third of this lineup is in flux and could involve a host of players: Bohm, Stott, Herrera, Matt Vierling, Johan Camargo, any other bench bat the Phillies sign. For the sake of simplicity, we'll go with a bottom third of Bohm, Herrera and Stott, with either Bohm or Gregorius DH'ing.

If Schwarber hits second:

1. 2B Jean Segura

2. LF Kyle Schwarber (L)

3. RF Bryce Harper (L)

4. C J.T. Realmuto

5. 1B Rhys Hoskins

6. 3B/DH Didi Gregorius (L)

7. DH/3B Alec Bohm 

8. CF Odubel Herrera (L)

9. SS Bryson Stott (L)

Hitting second would give Schwarber more RBI opportunities than he'd have leading off, particularly if Segura can spend most of the season above .300 as he did a year ago. It would also open the hole between first and second base when Segura gets on to start the game -- a sentence probably written about every left-handed two-hole hitter for the last 100 years. 

Batting Schwarber and Harper back to back would mean consecutive lefties, and manager Joe Girardi does like to split up his lefties. Harper hit third in more than 90% of his plate appearances last season, so if he's staying there, the only way to split up him and Schwarber would be batting Schwarber leadoff or fifth.

If Schwarber hits cleanup: 

1. 2B Jean Segura

2. RF Bryce Harper (L)

3. C J.T. Realmuto

4. LF Kyle Schwarber (L)

5. 1B Rhys Hoskins

6. 3B/DH Didi Gregorius (L)

7. DH/3B Alec Bohm 

8. CF Odubel Herrera (L)

9. SS Bryson Stott (L)

This is a good-looking lineup, though for whatever reason, Harper hasn't performed as well out of the two-hole as he has hitting third, cleanup or leadoff. In 932 plate appearances batting second, he's hit .249 with a .777 OPS. Batting one, three or four, he's hit .287 with an OPS nearly 200 points higher. Might be something, might be nothing.

The other option would be Schwarber at cleanup with Harper hitting third, though again, Girardi likes to split those lefties when he can.

If Schwarber hits fifth:

1. 2B Jean Segura

2. C J.T. Realmuto

3. RF Bryce Harper (L)

4. 1B Rhys Hoskins

5. LF Kyle Schwarber (L)

6. 3B/DH Didi Gregorius (L)

7. DH/3B Alec Bohm 

8. CF Odubel Herrera (L)

9. SS Bryson Stott (L)

This would achieve the goal of splitting up the team's top two left-handed hitters, though it's probably lower than you'd want Schwarber in the lineup. He is one of the three best hitters on the team and over the course of a six-month regular season, the plate appearances lost hitting fifth vs. hitting first or second pile up to the tune of 50 or so.

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