Kyle Schwarber Will See First Phillies Action Today
The Phillies have had a monster offseason, acquiring two new power bats via free agency in Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. While Castellanos is still making his way down to Clearwater to start his Spring Training, Schwarber has been down in Florida with the team for a couple days now, and is now poised to see is first action in a Phillies uniform. Reports are that Schwarber is active today against the Toronto Blue Jays in Grapefruit League action, and he slots into a couple spots that are familiar to him from his time in Chicago with the Cubs.
Per reports from NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury, Schwarber will be filling the DH role for the Phils today, and also will bat in the leadoff spot in today’s game. It’s a confirmation of a theory that has been popular among media members since the team signed Schwarber last week, that he could potentially fill the top spot in the lineup come opening day. Well, Joe Girardi has given us our first hint towards that being reality. Here’s the full lineup according to Salisbury’s tweet that showed Schwarber batting leadoff:
Schwarber, DH
Segura, 2B
Harper, RF
Realmuto, C
Hoskins, 1B
Gregorius, SS
Bohm, 3B
Vierling, CF
Haseley, LF
Now, obviously that lineup should change a little bit by opening day with the addition of All-Star Nick Castellanos, but this is the first lineup of the spring that has mostly the starting lineup we should see come regular season baseball. I’d imagine that the changes that will come with Castellanos’ insertion into the lineup would be him slotting into the cleanup spot, Realmuto jumps to the 2 hole, and Segura drops down below Hoskins. Haseley would slide out of the lineup and the bottom 3 guys would each slide down. There is plenty of time still to figure out what this 2022 Phillies team will be, but at least we get to see one of the big new pieces make his debut.
