First Sign of Spring: Kyle Schwarber Dabbling at a New Position

On Thursday in Clearwater, Florida, Kyle Schwarber was spotted doing something he hadn’t done in awhile: playing first base. Not only did he work out at the position with Phillies coach Bobby Dickerson in the morning, he manned the spot for five innings during the team’s Grapefruit League game against the Yankees in the afternoon. He didn’t field any grounders, but he made three putouts on throws from second baseman Kody Clemens.

For the first time since 2021, Kyle Schwarber records a putout at First Base. pic.twitter.com/IKKeeRhq7F

— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) February 27, 2025

According to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, it was the first time Schwarber played first base in a game since Game 6 of the 2021 American League Championship Series. He was a member of the Red Sox at the time, acquired from the Nationals in a July 29 trade and given a crash course at the position while rehabbing from a right hamstring injury. Up to the point of the trade, Schwarber’s post-high school first base experience consisted of two games in the Cape Cod League in 2013 and a single-batter cameo in extra innings with the Cubs in ’17. (He swapped places with Anthony Rizzo just before a game-ending wild pitch.) He went on to play 10 regular season games at first for the Red Sox, starting nine of them, and then made nine more starts at the position in the postseason.

Schwarber had some misadventures with the Red Sox, more on that momentarily, but this spring the Phillies are testing the waters as to whether the 31-year-old slugger can provide manager Rob Thomson with an extra bit of flexibility that could benefit regular first baseman Bryce Harper and catcher J.T. Realmuto. It’s all an interesting sidelight as Schwarber enters the final season of his four-year, $79 million deal, coming off his best season with the Phillies thus far — if not their best season with him in the fold.

Schwarber hit .248/.366/.485 with 38 homers last year, marking his third straight season in which he’s placed in the NL’s top three in dingers. A record-setting 15 of those came while he led off the Phillies’ half of the first inning, more often than not giving the team an instant 1-0 lead. While his home run total fell nine short of his career-high 47 from 2023, his batting average represented a 51-point improvement, and both his AVG and OBP were his highest since 2021. His wRC+ jumped 15 points, from 120 (.197/.343/.474) to 135. Though his barrel rate fell by about a percentage point, he cut his strikeout rate (from 29.9% to 28.5%) and hit the ball harder when he did make contact:

Schwarber’s average exit velocity, barrel and hard-hit rates, and xwOBA all ranked in the 96th percentile or above; his bat speed placed in the 99th percentile, so even that slight uptick in contact was worth something. He recovered some foot speed as well, improving from the seventh percentile to the 15th, and while that was still slow for a guy who placed in the 44th to 54th percentile range from 2017–22, he did collect a career-high nine infield singles, eight more than in 2023. Not as directly impactful as the homers he lost, but again, that wRC+ improved.

Schwarber set a career high with 3.4 WAR, a feat that owed plenty to his serving as an everyday designated hitter, with just five games in the field. That wasn’t possible in 2022 or ’23 given Harper’s UCL tear and subsequent rehab from Tommy John surgery, which limited the two-time MVP to DH duty until his elbow sufficiently healed and he was up to speed at first base. Stashed in left field, Schwarber went from being playable but bad to downright brutal:

Schwarber’s 2021 foray at first base wasn’t an auspicious one, even if you take the small-sample metrics above with a grain of salt. His lone regular season error at first — on a September 13 groundball off the bat of the Mariners’ Jake Bauers — came with two outs and a tie score in the seventh inning and opened the door to a decisive three-run homer by Mitch Haniger. In Game 3 of the 2021 Division Series against the Rays, Schwarber ranged to his right to field a grounder cleanly but then underhanded a throw to Nathan Eovaldi. It went way over the pitcher’s head for an error that, fortunately, was of no great consequence:

WOAH Schwarber’s toss goes WAY over Eovaldi’s head pic.twitter.com/HavYcmT4Hn

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 10, 2021

One inning later, he poked fun at himself by celebrating the successful completion of a similarly routine play:

After making an error earlier in the game, Kyle Schwarber fist pumps and hat tips to the crowd after making this routine play at first base pic.twitter.com/IJOPSe8xo7

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 10, 2021

Schwarber did make a much more impactful error in ALCS Game 5, dropping a throw from third baseman Rafael Devers that pivoted the series. To that point the two teams were tied at two games apiece. The Astros led the game 1-0 in the sixth with a runner on first and nobody out. The error allowed the batter to reach and the runner on first to advance to third, kicking off a five-run inning; the Sox were trounced in that game, then eliminated in the next.

Schwarber hadn’t even dabbled at first since departing the Red Sox, but late February is a perfect opportunity to experiment, to break in a new mitt, particularly during a road game so insignificant that it wasn’t even broadcast (less chance of any mishaps going viral). Nobody expects Schwarber to win a Gold Glove or even play the position regularly. The goal is just to expand the Phillies’ range of options, so Schwarber has been working out with Dickerson, who oversaw Harper’s conversion to first base.

Speaking of Harper, it might be just a coincidence that Schwarber’s 2025 debut at first happened the day after Philadelphia’s regular first baseman was hit on the right arm by a 92-mph fastball from the Blue Jays’ Richard Lovelady, but it’s worth mentioning that Harper landed on the injured list in both ’21 and ’22 after being plunked, missing 61 games with a fractured left thumb in the latter season. Not that Schwarber would stand in for Harper full time if that happened, but if he can buy Harper a couple of days — or, as a DH, half days – to recover from a minor injury, so much the better.

The Phillies do have other first base options. Starting third baseman Alec Bohm and utillityman Kody Clemens each played 15 games there last year, and outfielder Weston Wilson three, but Bohm is currently the only member of that trio who is a lock for the 26-man roster. Realmuto has played 51 career games at first, though none since 2022, but Thomson has made dialing back his workload behind the plate a priority in the wake of last year’s torn meniscus in his right knee. Playing him at first, with Harper at DH, and Schwarber in left field, probably represents the path of least resistance, though Thomson did float the idea of Realmuto in left a couple weeks ago, which would mean Schwarber at first. Via NBC Sports Philadelphia:

“I’ve talked to [Realmuto] about maybe taking some flyballs in the outfield because he’s really athletic,” Thomson said… “See how he is with that. We’re gonna try some different things. We don’t want to wear him out but we want to see what it feels like, see if he’s comfortable with it.

“We were having the discussion of trying to manage his workload as best we can, and at the same time having respect for the fact that this is a contract year for him, and we’re very left-handed so we want us many right-handers in the lineup as we can. I said you ever think about playing the outfield? He said, ‘I think I move around pretty good, I’m willing to try anything.’

As for Schwarber, it’s a contract year for him as well. He wants to be “the most versatile DH,” as he said last week, something that could bring some added appeal if he takes another trip through free agency. From Gelb:

“I know I’m not going to be here and be the primary first baseman,” Schwarber said. “If things work out here, that would be awesome (to stay). But if it doesn’t, it’s always nice to have that in your back pocket. Even though I play DH for this team, there is still a part of me that always wants to be in the field. Right? You just kind of miss that aspect of the game sometimes. Obviously, my role here on the team, I want to be able to produce any way I can for these guys. If I can get guys off their feet, I want to get guys off their feet.”

The current plan is for Schwarber to play a few more games at first this spring, plus a handful of games in left field. It doesn’t sound as though a Schwarber-at-first alignment would be anything more than a once-in-awhile thing for the Phillies, but the point is that if the need arises, he’s put in the hours to make it work.

Regarding an extension, sources told Gelb that the Phillies and Schwarber’s camp have engaged in “broad” discussions about another contract this spring, but nothing appears imminent. As for what such a deal could look like, Dan Szymborski supplied a ZiPS projection for Schwarber:

That’s not tremendously encouraging. ZiPS recommends just a three-year, $30 million extension based on that projection, which reflects the risk involved when striking a year early on a player who will be heading into his age-33 season when the new pact starts. Dan indicated to me that if Schwarber could replicate his 2025 performance, the ZiPS contract suggestion would rise to three years and $45 million, a substantial jump but probably still less than Schwarber is seeking. We’ll see how the season plays out, but at some point, the Phillies will have to consider whether a player with such limitations is worth another large investment. To Schwarber’s credit, he’s at least doing what he can to mitigate those limitations.

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