10 reasons we’d love to see Nationals’ Kyle Schwarber in 2021 MLB Home Run Derby

Kyle Schwarber has been on an absolute home run tear during June. The Nationals’ slugger has hit 16 homers since June 12 and has helped to drive the Nationals to a 13-3 record in their last 16 games.

The slugger’s power has been something to behold, and he has joined the likes of Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds during his power surge as one of three players to hit 15 homers in a 17-game span.

And his performance has us thinking — wouldn’t it be nice to see Schwarber participate in the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby?

The derby field is shaping up to be a strong one with Shohei Ohtani, Pete Alonso, Trey Mancini and Trevor Story set to participate in the event at the high-altitude Coors Field. Adding Schwarber to that crowd would certainly add some extra pop to the hitter-friendly park.

Here are 10 reasons why MLB should make sure he participates in the derby — or is at least invited to do so.

1. Since June 12, Schwarber has hit 16 homers. At the time of his 16th blast, he had as many or more homers than 10 teams in that 17-day span.

2. Schwarber’s long balls in that span haven’t been of the cheap variety. He has averaged 410.3 feet of distance per homer during his streak with 10 of his homers traveling over the 400-foot mark.

3. Despite playing just 69 games with the Nationals, he has already clubbed the fifth-longest homer for the team (463 feet) since Statcast started tracker home run distance in 2015.

4. Schwarber’s 463-foot homer is tied for the 24th-longest homer in baseball this season with his former teammate and Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, per OnlyHomers.com. There have been 2,774 homers this year, so his longest homer ranked in the top 1 percent of MLB.

5. Schwarber has posted seven leadoff homers this year for Washington. That’s the most in MLB.

6. Even more impressive than that? Schwarber didn’t bat leadoff until June 8. So, he has hit seven leadoff homers in three weeks.

7. Schwarber’s maximum exit velocity this season was 116.6 mph. That ranks in the top 1 percent of MLB, per Baseball Savant.

8. Schwarber’s hardest-hit homer had an exit velocity of 115.4 mph, the 27th-fastest homer of the season, per OnlyHomers.com.

9. The Nationals’ slugger has hit 15 no-doubt homers this year, per Baseball Savant. That means 15 of his blasts would have been homers in all 30 MLB ballparks. That’s tied for the league lead with Rays catcher Mike Zunino.

10. Here’s a look at all of Schwarber’s home runs since June 12 at once. Now, imagine him doing that — or double that — in a single round of the Home Run Derby.

Schwarber’s hot streak has certainly been fun to watch. It would be nice to see him try to continue it against some of the best sluggers in the world.

And if he can stay hot, maybe he can challenge Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s derby record of 91 homers set by the Blue Jays slugger in 2019.

Source: Read Full Article