Major League Baseball

Hitting prospect Kyle Schwarber re-joining the Cubs

Published Jul. 16, 2015 8:43 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

By Justin Farmer

The moment many Chicago Cubs fans have been waiting for is finally here. Kyle Schwarber is set to re-join the team in Atlanta when the second half of the season begins.

Schwarber was just named the MVP of the Futures Game in Cincinnati, after he finished the game with a triple and two RBIs. In Schwarber’s brief stint with the Cubs earlier this season, he proved he could hit, batting .364 with a home run and six RBIs before he was sent back down to Triple-A. When he got back to Triple-A, he continued to rake, batting .333 with a 1.036 OPS in 17-games.

Ideally, the Cubs did not want to call up Schwarber this early, as they wanted him to continue to develop his catching skills in Triple-A. However, Miguel Montero’s injury, jammed thumb, changed that plan as Montero has been put on the 15-day DL.

The interesting part to this whole equation is whether they will have Schwarber play some left field, or strictly use him as a catcher. Schwarber hasn’t seen much action in left field since he played some in Single-A, so it will be interesting to see whether or not the Cubs value his bat enough to put him out there.

Another question mark with Schwarber will be how his defense behind the plate will transfer to the big leagues. Most people say that Schwarber’s defense is not MLB ready and he will be a liability behind the plate, and if that’s the case, I just hope his bat is able to create more runs than he might give away.

Nonetheless, if Schwarber can continue to hit at the major league level like he did in his brief stint, he will be a very valuable asset for the Cubs, especially because they are in the playoff hunt.

More from isportsweb.com:

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball