After homering in his first at-bat – the first at-bat of the Phillies’ season – on Opening Day, Schwarber cooled off. He hit .149/.279/.373 with a .652 OPS and only seven extra-base hits in the remaining 19 games in April. He struck out 26 times.
May wasn’t much better. He hit under .200, still averaged less than one hit per game, and struck out 39 times in 28 contests, but added another six home runs to his tally. Essentially, all or nothing.
But the real test would be June, and Philadelphia Phillies fans waited anxiously to see if Schwarber could replicate what he did in the same month last season. In June 2021, as a Washington National, Schwarber hit 16 home runs in 19 games. Over 27 games that month, he collected 28 hits, all home runs or singles.
June ends on Thursday, and as of Tuesday night, Schwarber has 11 home runs this month. On Tuesday night, he hit his 22nd home run of the season, which puts him in a tie with New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso atop the National League leaderboard. They’re tied for third-most in Major League Baseball, behind Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, and Yordan Alvarez.
At this point, June Schwarber is an out-of-this-world phenomenon. According to ESPN, he’s hit 27 home runs over 52 June games between 2021 and 2022. Over the other 134 regular-season games he’s played in the last two seasons, he has 27 home runs.
To paraphrase Will Ferrell’s iconic character Mugatu, ‘That Schwarber’s so hot right now.’
Kyle Schwarber goes yard to make it a 3-3 game! pic.twitter.com/2aDkeS6NCT
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) June 29, 2022
Kyle Schwarber’s hot June puts him in Mike Trout and Babe Ruth territory
According to High Heat Stats, only Schwarber and Mike Trout have 100+ walks and 100+ RBI in their last 162 games.
Schwarber also gave fans a dose of nostalgia on Tuesday night. By extending his on-base streak to 31 games, he now has the longest streak by a Phillie since Chase Utley’s 35 games in 2006.
But wait! There’s more!
According to Jayson Stark, Schwarber has a career home-run ratio in June of 9.93 at-bats per home run and it’s the best in all of modern baseball history.
Better than Babe Ruth.
Yes, that Babe Ruth. The Bambino. The Sultan of Swat. The Colossus of Clout. The King of Crash.
The Babe.
He’s about as impressive as it gets.
Now that I’ve got you all excited about Schwarber’s June performance, it’s time to ask the tough question. With Bryce Harper on the Injured List for at least six weeks, the Phillies need Schwarber’s power more than ever. Can he build upon this June momentum when the calendar flips to July?