Kyle Schwarber has been belting leadoff home runs for the Philadelphia Phillies all season long, but the one he crushed Wednesday was special.
The veteran designated hitter stepped into the box to face San Diego Padres right-hander Michael Wacha in the very first at-bat of the contest. With an exit velocity of 112 miles per hour and a launch angle of 26 degrees, Schwarber sent the fourth pitch he saw 465 feet to dead center.
According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Schwarber's latest leadoff home run is tied for the sixth-longest in the Statcast era, which dates back to 2015.
Christian Yelich still holds the record at 499 feet, while Ronald Acuña Jr. owns the No. 2 and No. 4 spots thanks to a pair of deep homers in 2020. Schwarber's home run Wednesday is the longest leadoff shot of the 2023 season thus far.
Schwarber has 10 leadoff home runs to his name this season alone, and he is up to 41 total home runs this year. The 30-year-old slugger is hitting just .195 with a 0.6 WAR while leading the NL in strikeouts, but he does boast an .820 OPS with 90 RBI and 112 walks as the go-to leadoff man for the 77-62 Phillies.
Philadelphia has Thursday off, but the team returns to action Friday against the Miami Marlins – another NL Wild Card contender.
Schwarber has 23 games left to add a few more leadoff homers to his running total, and then he could have a shot to tack on a few more in the postseason. In his last 28 playoff appearances with the Phillies and Boston Red Sox, Schwarber has hit nine home runs – three of which were of the leadoff variety – which is an average of 52 per 162 games.
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