Philadelphia Phillies: 3 candidates to replace Kyle Schwarber as the leadoff hitter
By Tim Boyle
The experiment of Kyle Schwarber batting leadoff for the Philadelphia Phillies may be over. After hitting a home run in his first at-bat, Schwarber has slumped through the last week of the season. He’s putting up numbers you might expect from an American League pitcher who hadn’t gripped a bat since college.
Schwarber has time to turn things around and we should keep the faith that he will. However, he should no longer bat at the top of the Phillies’ order.
Instead, it’s time for the club to pivot away from Schwarber and take a look at how these three can perform getting first hacks.
The Philadelphia Phillies starting lineup could work with Jean Segura batting first.
Jean Segura may be the most natural leadoff hitter on the Phillies roster. He has speed. He can hit for average. He doesn’t have much pop. Segura would probably fit best batting second in a lineup. On the Phillies, he may make the most sense as their leadoff hitter.
Once again, Segura is hitting for a high average and getting on base frequently for the Phillies in 2022. While he won’t steal bases at the same rate he did early on in his career, he is one of the quicker players on the roster. He won’t walk much but he does put the bat on the ball. He makes things happen. Sometimes, that’s all you can hope for from your number one hitter.
Lifetime, Segura is a .298/.342/.440 hitter out of the leadoff spot. It’s somewhere he has hit regularly with only the number two spot in the order with more plate appearances.
There’s really not much of an argument against Segura hitting first for the Phillies other than it may mess with the mix of lefties and righties. There’s a simple way to solve this. Bryce Harper or Schwarber bats second. Preferably, Harper should with either Nick Castellanos or Rhys Hoskins in the number three spot.