Kyle Schwarber is in the Home Run Derby. He formally announced Friday that he will compete Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, and he will do it alongside Philadelphia Phillies teammate Bryce Harper.
The timing gives the derby a clean edge: Schwarber leads the majors with 32 home runs, and he has 219 since joining the Phillies in four-plus seasons. That is the kind of power that turns an exhibition into something people will stop to watch, especially when it arrives in Philadelphia with a matchup inside the same clubhouse. Schwarber also took center stage at last year’s All-Star Game by breaking a tie in a dramatic swing-off Major League Baseball had not tried before, so this is not a player arriving quietly.
There is history between the two Phillies. Harper beat Schwarber in the final round of the 2018 contest at Nationals Park, when Harper was a Washington Nationals outfielder at his home park. Now they are teammates in the same event, and Schwarber and Harper will be the first two teammates to compete in the derby since Schwarber and Javy Báez took part as Chicago Cubs in 2018. The pairing is simple by the derby format: each hitter gets his own turn in the same contest, with Harper expected to have Los Angeles Dodgers third-base coach Dino Ebel throwing to him and Schwarber expected to have a Phillies coach throw to him, according to MLB.com.
That leaves the event with a built-in storyline before the first pitch is thrown. Citizens Bank Park is hosting its first Home Run Derby, and only two Phillies have ever won it, with Bobby Abreu taking the crown in 2005 and Ryan Howard following in 2006. Schwarber already has the kind of season that makes him a threat to change that list, but the sharper question is whether the veteran slugger can answer Harper after losing to him once before.
