High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Kyle Schwarber Hits 300th Home Run In Comeback Win Over Rockies

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Jack Fritz discusses the Phillies' comeback win over the Rockies on Monday night and reacts to the Phils bein⁠g in first place in the NL East following the victory. Presented by Miller Lite To purchase Ring The Bell by Jack Fritz and Kevin Reavy go to RingTheBellBook.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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This is the High Hopes Podcast. On the Odyssey app and sports radio 94 WIP Never a doubt. Phils had them all the way tonight. No doubt about it. There was never a time in this game where I thought that Phils were going to sleepwalk and lose an embarrassing first game out in Colorado. Not this team, not your first place Philadelphia Phillies. Pretty good for a season that ended in in late April. Not too shabby. Welcome on in.

It is a little solo edition of the IOBS podcast, no final out tonight on the radio. So, uh, Phillip, I owed this to you as, as we react to the nice comeback after what was a stressful, stressful beginning of this game, really more of a sleepwalk than anything. It was like, are they really going to just show up in Colorado after Mick Able's bump day yesterday and just lay an egg and lay a stinker in the first game out in Cores, start a four game set. And no matter how bad the Rockies are and no matter how they should go out there

and take care of business, you just know that funky games are played out in Coors Field. And for a majority of tonight, it was, wow, Sanchez looks fine. It's not like he was overwhelming, but he was still really good. I mean, Chris Sanchez, it's so funny.

It's, he just has settled into being a damn good pitcher and It was pretty effortless for him tonight. I mean tovar hit the home run early I mean Jordan Beck scoring on that play was beyond annoying You know, he he possibly doubled the second base and then a little bleeder to bring him in and obviously the play late You know just but overall I, Chris Sanchez was great and it was, you're sitting there in the seventh thing, are they really gonna, cause they kept getting within one,

they kept getting close and they just couldn't get over the hump and obviously, eventually they did shout out the bomber, but man, there was definitely, it was trending towards what an annoying loss it was trending towards no way am I doing a solo high hopes after this it was trending towards all the good momentum just just not obviously thrown away but man would have certainly put a little damper on to a team that has yet to win 10 games yet to win 10

games it's May 19th by the way speaking May 19th happy birthday to Jill so Jill yeah we're another trip around the Sun but they won for Jill's birthday I'm sure there's nothing else she would have rather had than a big old Phillies win as once again I was listening to the game while trying to get Walker asleep. So as always the Hi Host Podcast is presented by Miller Lite. Obviously, I mean, it's Jack Fritz hanging out with you. And a couple other things

before we get into more of this game. Renting, May 31st coming up. We only have a select number of tickets remaining. We've sold a ton of tickets to the event, but I think there is going to be some more made available. So check out the link on my Twitter on the HiOPS Twitter and get it. And we'll go see Aiden and obviously the rest of the fighting feels but it's the road to the show for Aiden Miller and he I believe is hitting like over 300 in his last 11 games with a couple home runs so seems like the game might be slowing down for him up in up in Reading and if you haven't ever been to Baseball Town. to Baseball Town and the Reading, Fightin' Fills. It is a true treasure.

It is a true treasure. Like everything they talk about in minor league baseball and everything that minor league baseball is, that is the Reading, Fightin' Fills. They do it right, it's awesome. So come hang out with us on May 31st. Should be a great night. So like we said, you know,

tonight was trending towards being annoying. You know, Kyle Freeland, who every time they play, they face him, which I feel like they face him three times a year. It's the same stories with him. Like he turned down, he's affiliate's 35th round draft pick and he turned down the money and he does that funky stupid delivery

He's always so angry on the mound. It's like your era is over six. Let's calm down a little bit we're not not everyone's a hero, but I they just you know, they Really did sleepwalk through this thing for for a majority of it and then the floodgates kind of opened. And the nice part about what they were doing early against Kyle Freeland is they were getting that pitch count up. And even though he's pitching pretty well, they were getting it up there to where you knew

that this game was eventually gonna be handed over to the Rockies bullpen, which is of course atrocious. I mean, that Rockies team, I mean, you put this team up against last year's White Sox, White Sox team. I don't know. I don't know who wins that, that game, but you know, Bohm hits the home run there. And listen, this is just one of those where we're monitoring the

situation. We are monitoring the Alec Bohm. Is he, is he starting to try to launch baseballs? But there's a couple of the night that he really looked like he was trying to backspin and and get under and lift and launch. And there's a couple over the weekend where I said to myself, hold on now, that looks a little

bit different. That looks like the first two weeks of spring training outbound where he clearly spent a couple of months maybe in the offseason maybe trying to come up with the idea of figuring out how to use his height and use his leverage and generate some more power and I again we don't want to get ahead of ourselves we've seen these glimpses where Alec Baum is is hitting some home runs and going on a nice stretch and you start believing. But there was that one earlier tonight that looked like he was trying to crazy concept, get under and launch a little bit. And this was always the dream. This is always a dream with Alec Baum is you have great bat to ball skills.

Now let's figure out a way to, to drive it. And I, man, there would be nothing that would make me happier than Alec Bohm tapping into a little bit of his power. Does he need to sacrifice being a 280 hitter to hit 25 home runs? No, but he is should be good enough to hit 280 andter to hit 25 home runs? No, but he is, should be good enough to hit 280 and hit 20 to 25 home runs. He is six foot five. He has good back to ball skills. I, like Ben mentioned something on the broadcast tonight about, you know, trying

to catch the ball a little bit more out front and trying to lift it. Maybe he's giving in a little bit and going for it. So again, really don't want to get ahead of myself, but all we have to do is all I can do on this podcast is tell you exactly what I saw. And there has been a couple of times in the last couple of games where he has really looked to Lift and launch a little bit. So he's obviously been on a really good Stretch here for a bit. I'm fine keeping him down a lineup. Let him kind of cook and and if he continues to rake Okay, maybe start bumping him up, you know Cassianos is going through a little bit of a Cooler stretch here. Maybe if bone keeps it up, you put him back up there, but I'm totally fine with where

they're at. I mean, lineup wise, everything has just been really making a lot of sense for a good bit now and Turner, you know, had another really good game tonight. I mean, that triple, you see him just glide around. He doesn't even run. Like when he gets in those modes, it's not even running. It's just, he's just floating on the baseball field. So that was beautiful to see.

Like when we can see Trey Turner turn on the Jets, it's really a sight to behold. So obviously he had a big hit late to help break it open after the Alec Baum, after the Alec Baum, after the Alec Baum home run. And then slowly but surely, all of a sudden, you know, and I'll probably look it up in the morning. I have to look it up in the morning. But Bryce, since he shaved his head, is coming out of this thing. And obviously it's not all the home runs. It's not like this big power surge,

but what at least Bryce looks like he's doing right now is what he did in the final two months of last year where the power still wasn't totally there, wasn't totally back. And the power is something that we're definitely gonna have to keep an eye on as to what type of hitter he's gonna be going forward. But at least from this standpoint, he's, he's getting the bat on the baseball. He's putting together more competitive at bats. He's not striking out as much.

He's hanging in there against lefties and, and he's coming through in, in, in clutch situations. Now, I believe before that RBI, uh, before the, this, the single down the left field line or the left fielder, he was sitting at 342 with runners and scoring position, which, which is obviously, which is obviously great, but you're starting to see that average just creep back up. I think he's doing a much better, I think, what is he at? 260,

260 something. I mean, it felt like we use a 240 three games ago And now yeah, he's up to 263 just like that really good show you how quick things can turn in the baseball season You know bohms up to 260 which is great. Obviously he was in the one 80s for a while it felt like but they've really we've talked a lot on the pod about you know that stabilizing themselves and settling into the season and the alvarado thing is obviously a huge damper and does throw a wrench in in some things now i think they're gonna like the more and more you remove yourself from it, the further and further you get away from it,

and you start thinking about it. I generally feel pretty positive. Like I don't have this big, oh my God, they're getting the postseason and they're not gonna have Alvarado. Because I have faith in a couple of things. One, I have faith in a couple of things. One, I have faith in at the trade deadline, going out and getting someone.

I think I've gotten more in the mindset of, they're probably gonna have to just add another righty weapon out there and it's gonna be Strom and then maybe Ranger at that point as you get closer to the postseason, maybe that's when you start moving him into the bullpen. If you want to get really crazy, and this is totally dependent upon Nola getting back

to being last year's, even last year's Aaron Nola, but, and obviously some health. But I mean, if you want to get nuts, you see what Sanchez can do. he's under if they're worried about Ranger and his contract status and even though I think that they can have a sit-down conversation with boards and say hey It's the best thing for our team and they can sell the teams that hey they had to do it because they were They they didn't have any other option Sure

But if they wanted to get crazy and they felt like they could head into the postseason with like Wheeler, Lazardo, Nola bounces back, Ranger obviously has great postseason pedigree, and they wanna go for really big upside from the left side, I mean, Chris Sanchez could do that. Now, obviously at the same time, he's their second or third best starter. So again, there's a lot of big ifs and you don't

have to decide that on May 19 or May 20 when you're listening to this. But I think the one thing that is kind of exciting for as odd as that sounds about the Alvarado situation is I think is I think it just opens up all hands on deck and it opens up different pathways to trying to get it done. Now, ultimately they could try a bunch of different things and they all fail and we're sitting here in October and saying the avarado thing totally sunk this season. But I just don't feel that way. I don't feel like the avarado thing totally sunk this season, but I just don't feel that way

I don't feel like the avarado thing is going to sink this season I the way that they have responded to that in that series and the way that they've you know found some stones and They now I mean if the Dodgers lose tonight, I'm pretty sure they have the best record in the National League They are first in the NL East. Now that's going to be a two horse race. Although all the stuff out of New York about, I mean, feed me, feed me all the Soto's not happy content. It nothing is putting a bigger smile on my face than, than seeing the freak outs about Juan Soto right now.

While his OPS I believe is still over like nine something still feed me all of that content. But I just have faith that they're that they're gonna figure it out and the the excitement of an all hands on deck get creative figure out some way to piecemeal this thing together and let's go have ourselves a summer and let's go have ourselves an October, that's exciting to me. Are you ready to dive into the story, stats and personalities that make baseball

the greatest game in the world? Rob Bradford from the Baseballs and Boring Podcast here and we'll have you covered every day with podcasts that bring you closer to the action. From the bleachers to the clubhouse, whether you're a diehard fan or just a casual observer, these conversations are aimed to educate, entertain, and most importantly, inform you.

Follow the baseballs and boring podcast in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. You know, you see what Abel did yesterday. Obviously he got sent back down. And I know there was a, it was always the plan. And at the same time you're down a bullpen, bullpen arm with Alvarado, Abel wouldn't even be able to pitch for Ford. Like I just, yeah, they were always going to send them down, but you know, as the summer goes,

it goes along here, and I know that it felt like he was going to be used as trade bait, but I wonder if the Alvarado thing throws a wrench in that. As the summer goes along here, as of right now, they don't have to transition McAbel into a bullpen piece. But watching him yesterday, I was enticed by it. And I don't have to give away 23 year olds with that stuff

for some older kind of relief pitcher. I would, I want to see how he would do out of the bullpen and possibly help this team. So I know his development has been as a starter and I totally understand that he's in a really good rhythm as a starter, but at the same time he's been super adorable. He's never really been hurt. He's took him down a ton of innings. That's a pretty lively arm and again it's sort of all hands on deck and one of the things that was definitely jarring tonight is how quickly it got to Joe Ross's is in a more high lever

situation Carlos Hernandez was in a three run game in the eighth if that's not the Rockies then who knows how that goes. He was really good tonight to his credit. Joe Ross a little shaky, but he hadn't pitched in eight days. Carlos Hernandez, I think kind of is what he is. Obviously the stuff is still interesting. I think they still are interested in his stuff, but it was a hundred percent jarring getting to the point

where that's our seventh and eighth inning. And then, you know, the ninth ended up being a lapper so it would not have mattered, but it gets dicey quick. And, and like, I don't know that that kind of thing definitely did jump out, but there, they do have some options. It's, it's definitely going to be, I know, you can scream into your blue in the face about Nebraska do something, Nebraska do something, go make a trade. It's just, it's so early and you don't, every team knows exactly what the Fills need and teams aren't going to just give away, even teams that aren't

contending, they're not going to just give away relievers and not make you pay a hefty price for it because it's this early in the year. So, I mean, sure, if they, I guess they could do it, but I just would not get my hopes up. But the avarado thing as we move and start to come to grips with the reality of he's not gonna be here for 80 freaking games and then not in the postseason. First off, they're going to, they're probably going to air him out. You know,

they're going to let him pitch a lot when he gets back. The question is how effective is he going to be? Um, but man, uh, there's, it's eventually going to turn into, I think they're going to get one arm and at a deadline, and then it's going gonna come into a conversation of which starter is gonna go to the bullpen. It's not gonna be Andrew Paner. They've shut that down multiple times.

You're not, this kid's coming off Tommy John surgery, he's ramping back up. You don't put him in a situation where he has to theoretically pitch back to back days. Now, if it's once a week, go air it out for three innings or twice a week, theoretically. Okay, maybe that's a little different, but I think you would like a guy to possibly be a weapon.

And I just continued, like again, watching McAbel yesterday, I am incredibly intrigued as to what that would look like out of the bullpen. But that's just some quick bullpen thoughts. So a couple of other things tonight. The 300th home run for Kaush were going 466 feet was truly a a sight to behold. And I mean, it's not going to come to the shock of anyone listening to this podcast, but

whatever it takes, he cannot go anywhere else. It's going to be be the official high host position for the entire year if you don't want to extend them because you think it could have JT or Ranger or some of the other guys be like, well, what the hell? Like he got his, I didn't get mine. Okay, whatever, I don't care as long as he's a Philly. He's too important.

I think the Phillies realize how important he is. I want him to hit number 400 in a Phillies uniform again Ben might have got a little out of hand when he said he could have seen it hitting 300 more It's pretty pretty pretty big ask there, but still you get the point and it's crazy. It's It he he probably won't he probably won't but He's only 43 home runs behind Harper. And that's pretty crazy. Cause I think we all view Harper

as a 500 home run candidate. But again, the home runs have slowed down for Harper and Schwabers just continuing to get better and better. I wonder if he passes them. Now he would have to keep up a pretty damn good pace and Harper would have to keep up a pretty damn good pace and and Harper would have to obviously, you know, really really just go into a power outage But either way I want him to see I want him to hit number 400 in a phillies uniform

God forbid I mean could we get could we get to 500? Could we get to 500 home runs for Kyle Schwab? He's at 300. He probably adds a minimum of 20 more this year. Is that fair? 20 more home runs? So that gets a 320. If he can add, man, it could be tight. At least 450? At least 450. I don't know, but either way, what a tank shot, even though Scott Alexander was just out there kind of wearing it by that point still. Absolute moonshot. And just continuing to kind of do his thing and settling into that spot, protecting Harper on the lineup. I think as the summer goes on, it's just going to get better and better for those two. And hopefully they're in a good rhythm heading into the postseason.

And the way that that that short has been handling lefties, you don't have this big fear. Now, of course, if they face like some sick lefty, it's going to be an issue. But for the most part, those two handle lefties about as well as you could. So yeah, just what a player and what a what a moonshot and a bit of a chef's kiss for his for his 300th home round. What else do I have here? I actually thought Marsh came off the bench and smoked some baseballs which is good to see. Had two hits and then he went

right back to the pitcher. So it looked like he was kind of flying around and moving a little bit. That was good to see. Hopefully, you know, he kind of gets in a nice little rhythm here. But overall, you know, one that definitely was looking a little shaky early

and then turned into a laffer. Not too often does it go from uncomfortable to comfortable, but the Phillies certainly did that tonight and they are back in first place in the NL East. I mean, what a, what a, I mean it's been less than a month since that series ended up in, up in New York and man, how the tides have turned. So they're playing good baseball. they've settled into the season. The Alvarado thing is a damper, but I think they have some options

and I can't wait to see the creative ways in which they try to piece this puzzle together and not waste what is shaping up to be a damn good summer watching a damn good baseball team. And, you know, they think they found some things offensively. We're monitoring the bone situation. That's exciting stuff. That was some loud contact tonight.

I thought it was like a deep pop, like a deep pop up. And it just kept traveling and traveling. Maybe that's Coors. I don't know. Maybe he's looking, Maybe he's leveraging his height and started to drive the ball with some power. We could only hope, we can only hope. But either way, as long as they win,

I plan on being back tomorrow. We don't record after losses to the Rockies. I mean, we might if it's a disaster, but for the most part, we don't record after losses to the Rockies. So thanks for hanging out enjoy first place bills are hot