The Philadelphia Phillies have made the MLB postseason each of the last four years, and while they've yet to win a World Series, the Phillies are always one of the most dangerous teams in the Majors.
But one of the players who makes the Phillies so dangerous nearly left. Fortunately, the Phillies were able to bring back Kyle Schwarber on a five-year deal. For Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough, he likely wished Schwarber left.
ESPN shared a survey from active MLB managers on a few topics, and when asked which player they would least like to see come up in a clutch moment at the end of a game, while a lot answered Shohei Ohtani, McCullough picked Schwarber as his most feared hitter.
Marlins manager makes Kyle Schwarber admission
"Kyle Schwarber," McCullough answered. "He hammers velocity. He's gotten so much better versus lefties. Every time he's in the box, I feel like the field has just gotten too small. And he's in our division. There's (Aaron Judge), but we just don't see Judge a lot."
McCullough is scared of Schwarber coming up to bat in a clutch moment, and he has good reason to be fearful. Schwarber has been one of the games bets hitters the last few years, and he's no stranger to the big moments.
While he's best known for his incredible power as a hitter, Schwarber is also more than capable of making solid contact to move runners over, or even drawing a walk to put the winning run closer to home.
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He hit 56 homers in 2025 and had an MLB-best 132 RBIs. Schwarber can instantly change a game better than anyone in the Major Leagues, and he's done so for the Phillies for the last four years.
Even in the World Baseball Classic, in the Marlins stadium, Schwarber hit a clutch solo home run off of Yu Darvish to make it a one-run game after one of the more impressive at-bats in recent baseball history.
Schwarber is a premier slugger and is more than capable of taking control of a game with just one swing of his bat. McCullough's fear is justified, as very few players in the Majors can have the profound instant-impact on a game like Schwarber can.
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