Schwarber talks about his contract, future with the Phillies, and role in the lineup, reflecting on his prospects

The back-left corner of the Phillies’ clubhouse at BayCare Ballpark continues to fill with veterans arriving for spring training. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm have been at the complex most of the week, and between Thursday and Saturday, Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and Edmundo Sosa showed up to unpack their baseball bags.

Castellanos and Schwarber shared a long hug after spending the winter apart. It’s Year 4 as Phillies for both, but while Castellanos has one more season left on his contract after 2025, this is the final year for Schwarber. His four-year, $79 million contract will end after the season.

Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Ranger Suarez are three impactful Phillies entering their walk years. Of the three, Schwarber is probably the most likely to get an extension beforehand, though nothing is certain.

There’s interest from his side, and the Phillies clearly don’t want to see such an important player leave. Schwarber has hit 131 home runs in the regular season as a Phillie, with 12 more in the playoffs. He led the National League in homers in 2022 and walks in 2024. His batting average went up by 51 points last season, reaching .248, his second-highest ever.

Besides that, he plays a key role as a team leader, setting the welcoming tone in the clubhouse and often stepping up to answer questions when things aren’t going well.

“I have not heard what’s going to go on,” Schwarber said about his contract. “I know there’s interest on our side. We’ll see what happens throughout this camp, if they approach us and we get deeper and deeper into discussion.

“I’ve always enjoyed my time here … come in and sign a four-year deal and you feel like you settle in and get to know everyone and get to where you want to be. We’ve been close every single year.

I think that the joyous part for me is that this is a place that you walk in and you know that you have a chance to win.

Everyone is looking for a win

The whole organization and the whole city wants to win so that’s the thing as a player you want to experience because sometimes you can walk into a place and already be out of it by September. We’re always playing a lot of meaningful baseball in September.”

Sometimes players waiting for an extension set deadlines, like the end of spring training, before they want to stop the talks and focus on the season. Would Schwarber negotiate during the year?

“I have no clue. I’ve never had this pop up before,” he said. “I’m always ears, I guess. But I’m obviously focused on what we’re trying to do. If this is it, this is it. You’re going to put your heart and soul into the team just like you do every year.”

This season might look different for Schwarber. He will probably play more time in left field with the Phillies trying to give Realmuto and Harper days as the designated hitter. Schwarber might also find himself in a new spot in the lineup in 2025, even though he’s led off in nearly 85% of his plate appearances as a Phillie.

He has hit 37 leadoff home runs with the Phillies, and they’ve gone 28-9 when that happens. But this has also meant that many of Schwarber’s home runs were solo shots. Of the 143 home runs he’s hit, 97 have been solo, about 10% above the league average.

Manager Rob Thomson has named Trea Turner as the player who would lead off if Schwarber moves down to a spot where he can produce more runs. A probable 1-through-5 lineup looks like Turner, Harper, Bohm, Schwarber, Castellanos.

Kyle Schwarber comments

“Wherever my name gets written, that’s where I’m going to hit. I’m player number 12,” Schwarber said. “I’m not a manager, I’m not a coach. I get paid to play baseball for these guys so wherever my name gets written, I’ll play.

I just want to win the World Series and wherever we think our best lineup needs to go to continually win baseball games, that’s what I’ll do. I really don’t have a personal attachment to where I hit. I just want to go out there and try to win baseball games.”

Schwarber does have a personal attachment to this group. The Phillies don’t believe their window is closing because they have a lot of major-league talent, deep pockets, and top prospects like Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller who should help in the near future.

However, this particular group won’t stay together forever. The urgency to finish the job this year is bigger than ever.

“The older you get, you just realize more how much, I guess, it hurts,” Schwarber said of playoff near-misses. “The older that you get, the less time you have in the game. It’s just a fact that, I’m not 21 anymore or 22. I’m, you know, 32 now? Or I’m gonna be 32? Or 31? I don’t even know. Another trip around the sun. Age is a number. It’s how you feel.

“It’s always going to sting when you get knocked out in the playoffs. It’s stung for me every year that we have. But you just want to be able to really cherish what we have and put our effort and focus into where we want to go. We’ve done that every single year and we came up short on that at the end of the day.

But a lot of really good things have come out of that as well. It’s a double-edged sword — there’s obviously the part where we haven’t gotten it done, but also too the experience side and that’s what makes guys better.”