Kyle Schwarber on Monday night punctuated the Philadelphia Phillies’ return to first place in the National League East with his 300th career home run. Schwarber’s milestone blast came in the ninth inning of the Phillies’ eventual 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.
As you’re about to see, it was not a cheap one:
No. 300 for Schwarber, which came at the expense of a Scott Alexander sinker, left the bat at 109.3 mph and traveled an impressive 466 feet. It’s Schwarber’s 16th home run of the season, and it made him the 163rd slugger in MLB history to hit 300 or more career homers. Of those 300 homers, 147 have come since Schwarber signed with the Phillies prior to the 2022 season.
The authority of that homer speaks to the impressive season the 32-year-old Schwarber is having in 2025, which happens to be his walk year. He’s now slashing .257/.389/.573 (162 OPS+) for the season with 31 unintentional walks in 201 plate appearances. That’s strong production, and concealed within it is perfectly balanced power production on Schwarber’s part. He now has at this writing:
- Eight home runs against right-handers and eight home runs against left-handers;
- Eight home runs at home and eight home runs on the road.
More to the point, the win at Coors Field pushed the Phillies into first place in the NL East by a half-game over the New York Mets, who have lost four of five. The Phillies, meantime, have won four straight and are now 12-5 in May. This marks the first time since April 12 that the Phillies have occupied first place in the division.
No doubt there will be more jockeying ahead between the Mets and Phillies, and of course the steadily improving Atlanta Braves are working their way back into the mix after their 0-7 start to the season. For now, though, the Phillies and their newly inducted member of the 300 home run club are atop that particular heap.