You won’t find a hotter hitter right now than Nationals slugger Kyle Schwarber, who has swatted a ridiculous 16 home runs over his last 18 games. We haven’t seen a stretch like this since Barry Bonds went scorched earth in 2001, clobbering a record 73 long balls en route to his fourth National League MVP award. Fans would like nothing more than to see Schwarber, who is every bit of his listed 229 pounds, demolish a ball 500 feet into the Coors Field (a hitter’s paradise if there ever was one) bleachers when MLB stages its annual Home Run Derby next month. Unfortunately, the 27-year-old says he hasn’t been approached by anyone to compete and if offered a spot, would likely decline.
“I think the best thing to do is probably let it pass and rest up and look forward to the second half," Schwarber conveyed to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. “The biggest thing is you're going to get sore, after the fact. You're taking almost 13-15 minutes of full swings. You never do that in a day [of] your daily routine in baseball. That's just torturing yourself. It's definitely taxing on the body."
Schwarber appeared in the 2018 Derby in Washington, finishing runner-up to Bryce Harper. “It was a phenomenal Home Run Derby with Bryce, in the finals,” said Schwarber, recalling his epic showdown with Harper. “It was definitely a moment you're not going to forget. You kind of check that off your bucket list.”
While this year’s field likely won’t include Schwarber, the Derby should still boast plenty of star power with commitments from Shohei Ohtani, 2019 champ Pete Alonso, Trey Mancini (who has made a miraculous recovery from Stage 3 colon cancer) and hometown hero Trevor Story.
Schwarber’s Derby concerns are warranted. Many attributed Bobby Abreu’s struggles in the second half of 2005 to bad habits picked up at the Derby while Josh Hamilton experienced a similar fatigue factor following his participation in 2008. Derby organizers have courted Mike Trout for the better part of a decade, but he’s yet to take the plunge, probably due to many of the same fears that are keeping Schwarber away.
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