Simply the Best: Kyle Schwarber powers Team USA

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Kyle Skorber and welcome to the Philly Show.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, Kyle Schwarber, guys on Saturday Night offered a great reminder of how truly specially he is, how dangerous he is, how highly regarded he is amongst all hitters in Major League Baseball. We're going to talk Kyle Schwarber. We're bringing back Manco Best Week. We're going to talk a little Dante Nori, little Aiden Miller. Hope everybody is doing well. It is the Philly Show. We got Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury, I'm toddsle like you're recording this on Sunday, March eighth, and guys, Kyle Schwarber Saturday Night, Houston World Baseball Classic launches a tie breaking home run into the second deck in right field at Dykin Park. And I'm just watching that and going he hits cleanup in the first game of the World Baseball Classic with all these superstar players, and in the second game against Great Britain, he's hitting leadoff against with all these great players, And you know, it was a great reminder for me, just like how truly special it is to watch this guy play every single day. For the Philadelphia Phillies, and just then I start thinking, of course, down the road, what kind of career this guy might be having a right, what kind of career you might end up having.

00:01:27
Speaker 1: And where you end up might be.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: Where he might end up down the.

00:01:31
Speaker 1: Road, maybe Cooperstown. I don't know.

00:01:37
Speaker 3: He's at three hundred and forty career home runs. He's got a five year deal with that bat speed. We've talked about many times how we think it's going to hold up well into his thirties. Probably through the life of that contract. I could see him getting in the five hundred home run club, and that would be very difficult to keep him out of Cooperstown. I think there's a very legitimate chance that he could end up there, and we could be watching the next five years the finishing kick on a Cooper's Town drive, and that could put two guys from this current team in Cooper's Talk, because I think Harper's going already.

00:02:17
Speaker 4: That's a great point. And also the versatility, I mean, you can put them anywhere in that lineup. That's why it's so interesting to start to think about what Kyle Schwarber means to the Phillies on so many different.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: Levels.

00:02:32
Speaker 4: I mean, the guy can protect Harper, he can hit in the one hole if if Topper wants to slide him back in there again, if they truly want to keep those three guys at the top. I mean, there's a lot of different things that he can do. And the people that you know that we're sort of down on the Phillies as far as them being you know, like a non clutch team or whatever.

00:02:58
Speaker 1: The dude has.

00:02:59
Speaker 4: Come up with big home runs after big home runs and a lot of big moments, played a lot of playoff games. I know lately over the last couple of years, it hasn't been as.

00:03:11
Speaker 1: Productive.

00:03:12
Speaker 4: But the man's a stud, and the man needed to be in red pin stripes, and they brought him back and they did that, and they're a much much better team for it.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: I was looking at some numbers. You know, you see him hit that home run, you go, man, Kyle Schwarber, Dude, he doesn't hit too many balls farther than that.

00:03:31
Speaker 1: And then I looked it up.

00:03:34
Speaker 2: He's hit one hundred and let's see, one hundred and eighty seven regular season home runs two hundred one including the postseason in his Phillies career.

00:03:43
Speaker 1: So he said two hundred one home runs.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: That was only the fifty fifth longest home run he's ever hit.

00:03:50
Speaker 4: And it was a freaking tracer.

00:03:52
Speaker 1: It was a tracer.

00:03:53
Speaker 5: Oh.

00:03:53
Speaker 2: And you say that, Rubin, you say he must have crushed that ball. He's hit eighty eight home runs harder than that one in his Phillies career. So, I mean, it just shows you how absolutely incredible he is. And so I was thinking about this, because we've talked about this on the show in the past. Kyle Schwarber maybe Philly's version of David Ortiz, David Ortiz Hall of Famer.

00:04:15
Speaker 1: Jim.

00:04:15
Speaker 2: You mentioned the three hundred and forty home runs that Kyle Schwarber has five years left on or five years the beginning of this five year, one hundred fifty million dollar contract. Could he wiggle himself into the Hall of Fame talk? I mean, so he's he's averaged forty six, right, Ruben.

00:04:36
Speaker 4: Oh, I think so, there's no question, Like I don't. I just think that unless he has it real issues long term with his knees or back or something, and I think he's worked those through. I think the knee stuff he's really gotten himself to the point where he's super healthy. He's got a great base unless something like that happens, as it happened with Howard. Unless that happens, I just can't see him not having He has such great hand speed. His hands are so strong that he creates, you know, a bat speed that is sort of it's it's as good as anybody, and and it is, you know, it's something that I don't think he's gonna lose.

00:05:24
Speaker 6: And so, yeah, you got to think five hundred home runs, how does he not go to the Hall of Fame, especially since he's got a ton of he's already got he's got a ring.

00:05:37
Speaker 4: He you know, he's played on playoff teams. He's got tons of bulk as as far as you know, playoff you know, actual production.

00:05:49
Speaker 6: God, it's hard to think then in this day and age, he wouldn't be somebody that you wouldn't consider.

00:05:55
Speaker 3: So he has been to the playoffs in ten of his eleven major league seasons. He's at you know, he's at what one hundred and sixty home runs away from five hundred. The postseason resume is exceptional. Now, voters often look at the numbers, and well, they do look at the numbers. They look at the longevity of a career. They also look at iconic moments, and he's had some. He hit that home run in the World Series for the Cubs. He's had, you know, big moments here with the Phillies. Let me ask you this question, should iconic moments include the WBC. I personally think they should. This is high level competition, especially when you get to the later rounds, you know, when you get rid of Brazil and those teams. But I think it should come. I mean, this is a Major League Baseball MLB and MLBPA sponsored event. I think if you have big moments and help your team put a gold medal around its neck, I think the voter should take that into consideration in terms of a player's full body of work. So it's just.

00:07:21
Speaker 2: It's so funny you say that, Jim, because I was literally thinking about this on the flight back down to Clearwater. Is is there going to come a time when on a Hall of Fame plaque you will see led Team Japan to three World Baseball Classic Championships or whatever. Right, fifteen WBC home runs is an all time high or sets a record, or whatever the case may be.

00:07:47
Speaker 1: I wonder if they'll ever get to that point, they should.

00:07:50
Speaker 3: I mean, this is an MLB sponsored event, MLBPA sponsored event, This is one of Rob Manfred's babies, and the Hall of Fame and MLB are link at the hip. This should this should matter, and it should be recognized. In my opinion, it would be a way to really grow the WBC and and uh continue to legitimize it. And so I think it I think it should.

00:08:17
Speaker 4: Well, it's certainly there's certainly something they should consider. Those writers who are you, writers who are voting you fellows, you exceptional writers.

00:08:29
Speaker 1: Thank you. I think I just believe.

00:08:32
Speaker 4: That it's I think when you think of the Hall of Fame, you think not just you have to think a little bit more globally. Right, It's not just about the contributions that he's had on the numbers. It's the contributions the man has had on his team and on the game of baseball, the game of Major League baseball. How has that player impacted the game of Major League baseball? And if he continues to do some of the things he's doing right now, of course you got to consider it absolutely.

00:09:08
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00:09:18
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00:09:26
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00:10:27
Speaker 1: All right, we're back, guys.

00:10:30
Speaker 2: I'm very excited right now, very excited because it is our first Manco and Manco Best Week.

00:10:39
Speaker 1: Look at that, Look at that artwork. R eateing some pizza.

00:10:44
Speaker 5: That's awesome.

00:10:45
Speaker 1: We are checking. We're eating. He's got the little he's wake him. Jim's always happy when he's eating pizza.

00:10:53
Speaker 3: Yes, I had them last night.

00:10:56
Speaker 1: Here we go.

00:10:58
Speaker 4: I'm finishing off my favorite type of pizza, white with white pizza with the broccoli and chicken.

00:11:06
Speaker 1: Oh, very lovely. That's fantastic.

00:11:09
Speaker 4: Folks at Mango Manco string together.

00:11:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're thrilled to be back with Manco, Manco, Chuck and his wife Mary we had you know.

00:11:18
Speaker 1: We love them.

00:11:20
Speaker 2: We love working with Manco and of course Manco Manco Best Week, first episode, every week all season long. That's where we picked the best Phillies player play performance, whatever we want, whatever we want, we can do, right, guys, So our pizza, it's our pizza, It's our slices. As we want, exactly right, exactly right. I'm going to kick it off here, guys, I'm going to go with my Manco Manco best Week.

00:11:46
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with.

00:11:47
Speaker 2: Phillies current prospect, soon to be rotation man, and that is Andrew Painter. He made his first two Grapeer League starts this past week. I see it was five inning, pitched, one hit, one walk, one strikeout. Done exactly what you want him to do. I know we don't try to put too much stuff into spring training numbers.

00:12:08
Speaker 1: But he's showed very well.

00:12:10
Speaker 2: He looks big league ready, and with Zach Wheeler still sidelined coming back from his thorascic outlet surgery, it's a comforting feeling to see Andrew Painter kind of doing what everybody hopes he can do.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: So, Andrew Painter, I had a really good that's a good call. I'm right with you. He's throwing strikes.

00:12:34
Speaker 4: He could command the strikes down a little bit better, and he's breaking stuff a little bit better.

00:12:38
Speaker 2: But he is.

00:12:39
Speaker 4: Doing what you want him to do, which is get people out. He's not necessarily striking people out yet consistently, but it's not about that. It's about getting out. He's doing his job, and uh, we'll find out more about him in the next several starts, but he's certainly in pressing. I'm gonna go next gym, before you try to jump in there. I'm going to drop in my man, mister Bryson Stott. I have been bullish on Bryson Stott since the time he came to the big leagues, and granted he did not light it up offensively, but lest we forget, the man was the shortstop for the NL champion Phillies in twenty twenty two as a rookie. Rookie much like our friend Kevin Stoker. But I think this guy's got a lot more offensive potential. He's shown it in fits and starts at times, but.

00:13:37
Speaker 9: I do believe that he has mastered his swing to the point where he is going to maximize his ability to contribute offensively.

00:13:48
Speaker 4: Great defender, always playing great defense.

00:13:51
Speaker 1: Love is instinct.

00:13:53
Speaker 4: Love the way he runs the bases, and now he's pretty consistent and swinging the back great.

00:13:59
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's and.

00:14:00
Speaker 4: He's getting close to five hundred seven hundred, right, some ridiculous number, but he's picked up where he left off last year had a great second half, and he's continuing to do it with his new adjustment, and I have big hopes for this young man.

00:14:16
Speaker 1: He's the best. Great one, great.

00:14:18
Speaker 3: One, yeah, great, great pick that that adjustment you mentioned. He had an ops of over eight hundred in the final two months last year hit almost three hundred, so you know that adjustment has worked. He looks like a different hitter, and he's coming to camp and he's he's continued to do it, and he looks like a man who his bat is doing the talking. And if I listen closely, I'm hearing it say take this platoon and stick it.

00:14:49
Speaker 2: He would like to play one hundred and sixty two, I think he said to us Jim a couple of weeks ago. He makes a point to go in and tell him I want to play one sixty two.

00:15:00
Speaker 1: Probably won't happen.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: Sounds like they're gonna go start with so so a little bit at the beginning stages. But man, you hit like he's hitting now, good.

00:15:11
Speaker 4: Bats against leftist he said, really good at bats against left handers so far too.

00:15:15
Speaker 1: I love the way his approach is solid.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, since you guys took my two picks, for Manco Manco Best of the Week. I'm going with friend of the pod, Dante Nori.

00:15:31
Speaker 2: Al Right, hold that thought, Jim, because this is a great This is a great segue, Jim. We're gonna we're gonna segue into some World Baseball Classic talk right here, uh Fox, All of our World Baseball Classic coverage is brought to you by our friends at Fox one, which is live stream all your Fox favorites together in one place, including all WBC games over the next few weeks, and after that the best MLB action all season long. All right, Jim, friend of the podcast, I mean, my lord, friend of his.

00:16:03
Speaker 1: Friend of the pond. We gonna look out for our friends.

00:16:06
Speaker 3: Right. So this kid was born in Toronto, raised in the Detroit suburbs, and he's playing for Team Italy in the WBC and Saturday he could play on three different teams. And on Saturday Night he hit two bombs. You know, he's like, what, two years out of high school?

00:16:30
Speaker 1: What a thrill?

00:16:31
Speaker 3: He hit two bombs And was that game in Houston or Miami, I'm not sure, but Houston, what a thrill? And he unloaded on both of them. If you remember on that podcast, Todd We talked to him in the fall. He was a really bright kid, fun to talk to. I mean, he stole fifty bags last year in the minors and he said he'd like to hit for just a little bit more pop in twenty twenty six. Well, he's off the pretty good start in the WBC. Hits two home runs, does cappuccino shots and the dugout? What an amazing Oh is there a difference.

00:17:12
Speaker 5: There's a difference.

00:17:14
Speaker 4: There's a different espress coffee to me and Todd you can grill, we'll talk talk, we'll talk coffee.

00:17:23
Speaker 1: But you know what's so funny about that, Reuben real quick?

00:17:25
Speaker 4: Is that?

00:17:25
Speaker 1: So?

00:17:26
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:17:26
Speaker 2: So Team Italy they have that an espresso machine in there in their dugout and now they take shots of espresso anytime somebody homers. So Dante Norge gave a great quote talking about it, and he basically said, I do not like coffee, so it did not taste great.

00:17:43
Speaker 1: He said after the first one, the.

00:17:45
Speaker 2: First one especially, I was like ugh, But the second one kind of liked that one a little bit more.

00:17:52
Speaker 3: They should they should do many no shots.

00:18:01
Speaker 4: I do want to say something about Dante Norrie obviously a very young prospect, first round pick. This is a guy that basically was a speed guy that they think has a advanced ability to hit right. And you talked, you talked about it. He wanted to get himself a little stronger. It does say takes some time for high school players to gain their quote unquote man strength. They're still maturing, they still haven't. You know, you see collegiate players and when I was in college, I was a little weakly, you know, I had no strength. But you developed that eventually and you become somebody who's a little bit stronger. And it's very obvious to me that he has gained a lot of strength, and he's gained.

00:18:48
Speaker 1: A lot of poise. And I and I love he's that that he that he.

00:18:54
Speaker 4: I mean, he crushed those two balls.

00:18:56
Speaker 1: Those were no joking. That was some bad speed.

00:18:59
Speaker 3: Well, he's he's built like a little power pack. I mean, he's not a he's what five eighty five nine. He is a strong, put together kid. And his dad works in the NBA as a strength and conditioning guy. So you know, it's like it's like you grew up, you know, with with learning how to feel the ground ball. He's grown up knowing how to put some strength on his on his body. So nice kid, What a great moment for him and his family.

00:19:27
Speaker 2: Jim, didn't you have a didn't you say something to him the other day about why he's not playing in Team Canada and we might have already talked about this on the show. Then you made a little comment about the spread.

00:19:39
Speaker 3: Well, I said, you playing. I went up to him, I was talking to I said, you're playing for Team Canada. He goes, no, they didn't even ask me, So I'm playing for Team Italy. I go, that's a good move. They got a better spread game spread.

00:19:51
Speaker 1: They had spreading exactly right.

00:19:54
Speaker 3: I heard like Dante and Luigi's is catering the clubhouse.

00:20:02
Speaker 1: They'll bring it, they're flying it in. Huh, maybe you'll do it, Yeah, we can ress.

00:20:10
Speaker 2: Luigi would be all over that, There's no doubt about it.

00:20:12
Speaker 1: So that was that was real. That was a really cool moment.

00:20:15
Speaker 2: From the WBC through the World Series to the World Cup, to NASCAR and IndyCar.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: With Fox one, you get it all live.

00:20:21
Speaker 2: Start your seven day free trial today offers our subject to change. Download Fox one today and stream the World Baseball Classic live. March sixth through the seventeenth. Go to foxwe dot com for complete terms and conditions. Fox one is streaming now, so you guys want to end up on this uh Aiden Miller was in flew up to Philly on Friday to see Team doctors to get his back examined. And you know, Rob Thompson said, listen, we're just you know, we just want to make sure we tie up any loose ends here. He says there's no concerns about it. And Miller says he's not not concerned about it. When I talked to Dave Debrowski maybe like down ten days ago, he say, it's not a little concern about it. It's a it's a recurring kind of back issue. But you know, you guys, what do you guys think about him flying back? And I would be stunned right now if he's ready by opening day. He hasn't swung a bat yet.

00:21:22
Speaker 1: Stunned, stunned, I'm talking.

00:21:25
Speaker 4: About there's gotta be there's gotta be concerned about this. I mean, it's a back and anytime you know backs or Tricky talked about this a little bit, I mean he's gonna have to make the adjustment and it's gonna be like a lifelong thing for him, like a consistent thing that he's gonna have to take care of, because you don't want that to be a recurring issue. You don't know what's going We don't know what's going on in as vertebra. We don't know what's going on in that spinal cord. We don't know what's going on in that uh in you know that that anywhere from you know, any of the lumbar regions or any of those areas. But there's gotta be some concern, especially for a young player. And uh, they're they're trying to nip it, nip it in the butt.

00:22:08
Speaker 3: There's gotta be concerned, much more concern than they're letting on. If they're gonna throw them on an airplane and fly them off to Philadelphia. It's not like they don't have people down there. Don't know what they're doing.

00:22:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what kind of immediately popped into my mind, guys, is that they have doctors down here, So to send a guy up to Philly.

00:22:29
Speaker 1: In the middle of spring training.

00:22:33
Speaker 10: Tom Gordon, Yes, wait, hold on, ruben, hold that thought. That is exactly what I thought of. So what what spring training, was I'm gonna see here.

00:22:47
Speaker 3: So I saw I'm at the airport with him.

00:22:51
Speaker 5: So I was on the flight.

00:22:54
Speaker 1: So Tom Gordon, what was it?

00:22:55
Speaker 2: I can't remember what spring it was, but he obviously had a shoulder issue or an elbow issue, and he had not pitched, and I think we were kind of like wondering what was going on, and was like, nothing to see here, No, nothing to see here. Next thing, you know, Gym's at the airport flyingal for the weekend, and who's on his flight? Tom Gordon going to get looked at by team doctors.

00:23:18
Speaker 3: And then they Ruben, you know, I think Ruben was the GM.

00:23:21
Speaker 1: Then was assistant GM. That was that was that was? That was Pac Gillock. It was Pac Gillock.

00:23:29
Speaker 3: So I I'm at the airport and I called Ruben. I said, Ruben, why is Tom Gordon flying to Philadelphia? And he says, he's just he's just going up there for for a chief steak.

00:23:41
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:23:42
Speaker 4: I had to b s because my because because Pat Gillick was asked and he said he wasn't going up there like that. So we there was.

00:23:53
Speaker 3: A little what happened was so what happened there was a lot, there was a lot of phibbing. There was a lot of fibbing going on. The guy I hadn't pitched all spring. Now he's flying up to Philly. And then, if you remember Todd when the old Shinola hit, the fan was in Atlanta when early in the season, it might have been like May after a game, Charlie spills the beans and said, well, he had a bad out. He's got a bad elbow. That's why he flew up to Philadelphia that weekend, and.

00:24:27
Speaker 1: It all came out, Oh my gosh, and I.

00:24:33
Speaker 4: Brought out the old uh and I vowed from that point on and never bs.

00:24:42
Speaker 3: And I actually I let him have it in the newspaper. I let you guys have it. And I actually got a call as the it was like this was like getaway night coming out of Atlanta, and I'm on the runway in Philadelphia coming back from Atlanta and my phone rings from it unnamed team official saying, I think you're a little hard on us in the favor of this morning. And I'm like, I was so ticked.

00:25:13
Speaker 2: On.

00:25:15
Speaker 1: It's just water under the bridge though, now, isn't it.

00:25:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, Now I see Tom Gordon all the time. You know we talk about Public's Fried chicken. He loves Public's Fried Chicken, as do I.

00:25:28
Speaker 2: Tom Gordon oy all the time. I love seeing him running around. He's yeah, you see him every once in a while. You probably see him more.

00:25:34
Speaker 1: Jim than I do, but you see him a lot. He pops around every once in a while. But he's a good guy.

00:25:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's uh, he's big in PG. Yeah yeah, it's great, big coach.

00:25:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, man, good guy. Good guy.

00:25:52
Speaker 2: Threw a lot of innings down that two thousand that final month of the last two weeks in two thousand and seven when Charlie basically pitched Brett Myers, JC Romero and Tom Gordon every single game the final thirteen to fourteen games down the stretch.

00:26:07
Speaker 1: We made them earn. He he didn't make them mirn. He did make them morn.

00:26:12
Speaker 2: All right, guys, that was fun. Hey, you know Jim, check out all Jim's stuff. He's writing again, NBC Sports Philadelphia. I'm at MLB dot com as you know. And Ruben, you got NBC Sports Philly.

00:26:24
Speaker 1: You got WIP winning on WPNX.

00:26:27
Speaker 4: Ruben probably do some call ins over the next couple of weeks before I come back with the team because right now I'm playing golf, my brethren, Oh my lord.

00:26:38
Speaker 1: All right, well, I will not see you guys. I will not see you guys. Tomorrow morning I'll be at the ballpark. But The Philly Show will be back later.

00:26:44
Speaker 3: This week, smilling with little boys.

00:26:47
Speaker 1: Smell you, Jimmy.

00:26:49
Speaker 2: The Philly Show is brought to you by the Foul Territory Network. Subscribe to The Philly Show on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.