Phillies' Kyle Schwarber slugging his way into NL MVP race

The National League MVP race is going to be highly contested over the remainder of the regular season, and there is a new contender starting to emerge in the discussion — Philadelphia Phillies outfielder/designated hitter Kyle Schwarber. It’s going to be a fascinating debate about value, what stats matter and what type of player is deserving of winning the award.

Along with Schwarber, the other two main contenders are almost certainly going to be Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani — especially as he starts to make a bigger impact on the pitcher’s mound — and Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. 

Schwarber’s case is going to be more of an old-school one that focuses on traditional counting stats and more subjective levels of value. When it comes to the former, he enters play on Thursday leading the National League in home runs and RBI and is second in both slugging percentage and OPS. When you add in the fact he is one of the leaders and heart-and-soul players of one of the best teams in baseball, as well as some of his clutch moments throughout the season, he is going to get a lot of attention and a big push from Philadelphia fans. 

It’s the type of season that probably would have been a slam-dunk MVP award 15 or 20 years ago. 

The more new-school argument against him is going to come down to positional value, defense and more advanced metrics. 

Ohtani’s case is going to be pretty clear. He is every bit the dominating hitter that Schwarber is (and probably a little better) and is now becoming a regular again in the Dodgers pitching staff. As long as he stays healthy on the mound, keeps increasing his innings workload and keeps dominating the way he has it is going to be awfully difficult to unseat him as the NL's reigning MVP. 

Then there is Crow-Armstrong. While he may not have the on-base abilities that Schwarber and Ohtani has, he has been an elite power hitter (sixth in NL slugging percentage) and is one of the best defensive players in the league at one of the most important positions (center field). 

That defensive impact, which has contributed to what is by far the highest WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in the National League entering Thursday (6.2, compared to 4.7 for Ohtani and 3.9 for Schwarber).

That is going to be the big knock against Schwarber in a more modern-day, analytically driven MVP selection process. 

But MVP votes aren’t simply about taking the player that has the highest WAR and putting them at the top of your ballot. They shouldn’t be, at least. There is always going to be some subjectivity to it, especially when it comes to the idea of “value.”

Some people will see value as simply being the best player. In which case, Ohtani would have a pretty convincing argument. Others will look at it and say that the Dodgers would probably still be a playoff team and World Series contender without Ohtani (as they consistently were before he arrived) and wonder where the Phillies lineup might be without Schwarber. It should be a strong argument. Perhaps even strong enough to put him near the top of the MVP voting.

It’s an old school vs. new school debate, and Schwarber is slugging his way to the top of it.