Will Kyle Schwarber participate in the 2022 Home Run Derby?
Kyle Schwarber has been tormenting opposing pitchers and innocent baseballs for weeks now.
The Philadelphia Phillies slugger homered 12 times in June and fueled that momentum right into July; he’s homered five times in nine games this month. Now leading the National League with 28 blasts (and 61 runs scored), he’s an All-Star for the second time in his career and second consecutive season. Those 28 homers are the second-most in franchise history before the All-Star break, and he still has time to overtake Mike Schmidt, who homered 31 times before the 1979 midsummer classic.
On Sunday, MLB announced that Schwarber is one of the NL squad’s reserve players for this year’s event, prompting the obvious question, will he participate in the Home Run Derby?
At least publicly, Schwarber is undecided:
"“I’m up in the air right now, I’d say 50-50,” he said. “I’ll make a decision in the next couple of days. I want to see how my body is. It’s a bucket list thing. I did it once in 2018 and it’s fun. But it’s also taxing. You weigh the pros and cons.”"
While it would be amazing to see Schwarber rake in the derby, there’s also a risk of injury, which is the last thing the Phillies need right now. After putting Jean Segura and Bryce Harper on the Injured List for over a month, they can’t lose another slugger.
Schwarber should save his home runs for games that count. There’s too much at stake this year.
Kyle Schwarber shades absurd All-Star rosters after several Phillies snubbed
Kyle Schwarber wasn't happy that several of his Philadelphia Phillies teammates didn't make the All-Star roster with him.