Chicago Cubs: Kyle Schwarber working out of his funk at the dish

A month into the season, Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber has had some ups and downs. His most recent struggles could be nearing an end, though.

One of the many topics of conversation this offseason was the potential looming breakout of Kyle Schwarber. He has a full big league campaign with the Chicago Cubs under his belt now without spending any time in the minors and fans are ready to see him realize his full potential.

But a month into the 2019 season, struggles at the plate have dominated storylines surrounding Schwarber once again.

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Going into Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, the 26-year old outfielder is slashing .236/.310/.416 with four home runs, a wRC+ of 93, a 28 percent strikeout rate and is a 0.3 fWAR player. Just looking at the line, one could easily say it has been disappointing, and for a good chunk of April “disappointing” is an understatement.

However his recent play and beginning to the season show there are positive contributions coming from Schwarber. His funk in the middle of April was brutal, but recently he has been working out of it slowly but surely.

Looking at Schwarber’s streaky start

When the season began, Schwarber tore it up at the plate the first five games. He hit .353/.421/.765 with a 1.186 OPS and two home runs. This includes five strikeouts and two walks. It was a small sample size but the approach and confidence looked incredibly promising.

Then the struggles came…and boy did they come. From April 5 to April 25, Schwarber hit just .151/.211/.226 with 15 strikeouts against just four walks, with only one home run and a .189 BABIP. This included a lot of bad at-bats with swinging strikes and grounders right into the shift. In 11 of those games, he hit half or more of his batted balls in play on the ground. It was not just some “bad luck”, he looked lost at the plate and his frustration was showing.

It seemed like the frustration hit its boiling point on April 13 when he was called out on a check swing to end a game at Wrigley Field and he rampaged like King Kong towards the umpire. Joe Maddon decided to give him a few days off after than and try to collect himself. It may have been a good call on his part.

Schwarber’s strides in a positive direction

The last six games we have seen more of what we saw in the first week of the season and spring training play. From the start of the series in Arizona through Friday he is hitting .368/.458/.632 in 24 plate appearances. That equates to seven hits, two doubles, four walks and his game-winning home run on April 30 in Seattle.

During this stretch we have seen him get creative with the bunt hits as well has hitting the ball hard and finding grass or the seats. His wRC+ over this span is 181 and his walk rate is 16.7 percent. Again this is a small sample size, but he looks much more comfortable at the plate now. Even if he is not hitting home runs galore, the fact that he is getting on base again and hitting harder line drives certainly something we like seeing. While he is still pulling the ball a lot he has lifted the ball over the shift which makes a big difference from mid-April to the last week or so.

Hopefully, this nice stretch will continue and he will progress as the season goes. We know the potential Schwarber has, we see how good his eye is at the plate and the power he possesses and it just all has to come together more consistently.