Kyle Schwarber went hitless in four at-bats in an extra innings win over the Cubs on Sunday night, dropping his batting average to just .138 with a .478 OPS over his last eight games.
Schwarber has not gone deep in his last 36 plate appearances, striking out 10 times while logging just four hits in that span. As Schwarber’s bat cools off, Joe Giglio says it’s time for Rob Thomson to move his slugger back to the leadoff spot to get him going again.
“Schwarber has cooled off considerably since being moved to the cleanup spot to protect Bryce,” Giglio said. “I know this is a fun little experiment, and it’s worked out okay since Stott has been fine. But I just need more out of Schwarber.”
Schwarber actually got off to a torrid start batting cleanup this season, logging six hits in his first 11 at-bats after moving down in the order. But his bat has cooled off since, and Giglio says it’s time to get Schwarber back into his more familiar leadoff role, where he was for all but just one plate appearance last season.
“I’ve always been a Schwarber leadoff guy,” Giglio said. “I’d rather keep him at leadoff. I understand why they did what they did, because they were desperate for protection behind Bryce. But they haven’t gotten the best out of [Schwarber] since they moved him down.”