Kyle Schwarber is making teams ‘pick their poison’ after reinventing himself as a hitter against lefties

DENVER — Conventional baseball wisdom holds that pitchers have an advantage over hitters of the same handedness.

When a pitch is coming from the same side, it can be harder for a hitter to pick it up visually, and breaking balls naturally move away from them. Those matchup advantages are why Phillies manager Rob Thomson likely would bring in left-handed reliever Matt Strahm to face lefties on an opposing team but usually opts for righty Jordan Romano against a string of righties.

So it would stand to reason that when Bryce Harper is in the Phillies’ on-deck circle and Kyle Schwarber is in the hole late in a close game, opposing teams are getting ready to bring in their best lefty to face them.

» READ MORE: The numbers behind Kyle Schwarber's road to the 300-homer club

Or maybe not. Harper has been an equal-opportunity hitter throughout his career and is a threat no matter whom he’s facing. And Schwarber’s 2025 season has been anything but conventional: Nine of his 17 home runs this season have come against left-handers, and seven of those have been off relievers.

“That’s what we’ve heard,” Thomson said. “You know, some guys have said to some of our coaches, ‘There’s no way we’re putting a lefty on Schwarb.’ I guess it depends on who they have in the bullpen.”

Schwarber started to turn into a full-fledged lefty-killer last season after undergoing the typical struggles against left-handers earlier in his career. This season, he has a .317/.456/.794 slash line against lefties, compared to .223/.351/.464 against right-handers.

In 2023, Schwarber slashed .188/.328/.430 against lefties. At 32 years old, he has reinvented himself as a hitter.

“It’s pretty incredible,” Harper said. “I mean, they pick their poison, righty or lefty, and he’s going to make them pay either way.”

On Monday, Schwarber joined Harper in the 300-homer club. On Tuesday, he bashed his 301st. Both the milestone homer and the one that followed it had two things in common. First, they were absolutely demolished. No. 300 traveled 466 feet and bounced off the facing of the third deck at Coors Field. No. 301 went 430 feet to dead center.

Second, they were both off left-handed relievers.

“All the work — I wouldn’t even say even just off lefties — I think just the work continually, keep trying to get better, just the game, and trying to be great for these guys, and trying to help these guys win baseball games, is what it’s all about,” Schwarber said.

Schwarber’s 301st career homer was his 17th of the year, which tied him with Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead as of Tuesday night.

» READ MORE: Kyle Schwarber just hit his 300th career home run. How many Phillies in the 300 club can you name? | Quiz

“I think health and just work ethic, how he goes about his business every day. He works as hard as anybody,” Thomson said. “And it’s not just the physical side, it’s the mental side, too. He’s watching tape. He really bounces back from a bad day. He’s just kind of a total package right now. Really good hitter with great power, and a mental mindset to handle it.”

And hitting behind Harper — who has a .464 batting average and 1.137 OPS since buzzing his hair on May 12 amid an early slump — Schwarber now presents a conundrum for opposing teams with no clear solution.

“He’s having a great year,” Harper said. “I mean, obviously, his power is incredible. It never ceases to amaze us, the way he goes out there and hits the ball that far, and just the way he does it, man, it’s impressive.

“It’s really cool to see. I’m really happy for him.”