What’s your concern level about Kyle Schwarber’s health?

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Kyle Schwarber has been arguably the Phillies best and most consistent hitter this season, but even he too is not immune to slumps. In Schwarber’s case, he has not homered since July 18th and has hit only three round trippers since the start of July across a total of 112 plate appearances. To his credit, he still has a healthy on-base percentage over that span at .349, but the Phillies are at their best when Schwarber is slugging.

The 33-year-old Schwarber missed two games in June with what has been reported as an unspecified back injury and has completely changed his pre-game routine because of it, opting to hit indoors rather than out on the field as described in a recent article by Matt Gelb of the Athletic. In that article published on August 2nd, Schwarber insists that he is not hurt but also acknowledges that it will take time to return to 100%.

The back ailment, something Schwarber played through, was probably a bigger deal than anyone acknowledged.

“When you come back from an issue like that, it’s not going to be 100 percent right away,” Schwarber said. “That’s the thing about that. You’re not going to feel like you were right before it. I wish I did. But you’re going to find a way to get through it.”

From Matt Gelb in the Athletic.

There are other more tactile factors to Schwarber’s slump, such as his swing percentage on pitches outside the zone rising coupled with an uptake in general whiffs, but the mysterious back injury still casts a specter of doubt that maybe it too is playing a part in Schwarber’s power outage.

So, what’s your concern level about Kyle Schwarber’s health? Is the previous back injury a bigger deal than it was initially made out to be? Or is this just a run of the mill slump that comes for every player at some point?

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