Over the course of his 10-year big-league career, Kyle Schwarber has made a name for himself as a big-time slugger who is patient at the plate, regularly being among the league leaders in both home runs and walks.
The Phillies designated hitter has also developed a legacy of sorts for doing a ton of damage during the month of June. Schwarber added to his June legend on Monday night, homering twice and driving in four runs as part of a 9-2 Phillies victory against the San Diego Padres.
Schwarber’s big night made some history, as he became the fastest to 60 homers in the month of June – doing so in just 172 games. The previous record holder was Mike Piazza, who reached the milestone in 191 games. Only one player in the history of the major leagues reached 60 in any calendar month in less time than Schwarber has in June.
His impressive night also added to some history that he set earlier in the month. He’s now averaging a home run every 10.3 career at-bats in the month of June, placing him ahead of Babe Ruth (10.6) for the best rate in MLB history. Anytime you are mentioned in the same breath as the Great Bambino, you are doing something right.
Kyle was asked about his prolific numbers in the calendar’s sixth month after last night’s game:
Per MLB.com reporter Paul Casella, so does the opposition. Padres manager Mike Shildt expressed how good Scwarber is – “This dude, going back to my days when he was in Chicago — I don’t know Kyle well, and I hear nothing but great things, and he’s a really, really talented guy — but he does not have to hit a home run in every game that I manage. It’s just … uncle. He’s a real talent.”
Other fun notes about Schwaber dominating in June
- Kyle has 28 multi-homer games in his career – 10 of which have come in June, 2 of them even happening already in 2024. In fact, all 10 June occurrences have come in the last four seasons. Over that same span, he has 10 in every other month combined.
- 22.9% of his 262 total long balls have touched down in the stands in June.
- His OPS during his favorite month is .945 – by far his best (2nd highest is August at .880). If you were to extrapolate that June OPS over a career, that number would leave him one spot in front of Ty Cobb on the all-time OPS leaders list.
Schwarber even started 2024’s edition of dominance a little slow for himself. After recording just five hits and no homers from June 1 through the London Series, he has been on a tear. Kyle is slashing .407/.515/1.037 over the last week, with 5 HRs and 11 RBIs. That is astounding stuff from the Phillies slugger. His slash line for the month so far is .291/.400/.600.
Schwarber is having a strong season overall, now hitting .253 with a .373 on-base percentage, tallying 16 HRs and 47 RBIs from the lead-off spot. This comes after two seasons of struggling to (and one of those seasons failing to) get over the Mendoza line. The legend of June Schwarber continues to grow and will look to grow even more as the Phillies take on the Padres in game 2 of their series tonight.
