The first hitter in history to hit 40 home runs. This player's time has arrived

Aug 08, 2025

The first hitter in history to hit 40 home runs. This player's time has arrived
Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber is running around the base with his right hand raised after hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles on the 5th (Korea time). AP Yonhap News



The first hitter in history to hit 40 home runs. This player's time has arrived
LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run in the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on the 7th (Korea time). AFP Yonhap News
The best hitter has changed. Unexpected, but reasonable explanation followed.

Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber topped the monthly batting rankings released by MLB.com .

Schwaber was at the top of the rankings in the 'Hitter Power Rankings' released by MLB.com on the 8th (Korea Standard Time), beating Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is the first time this season that Schwarber has been ranked No. 1 in the rankings.




Schwarber's ranking was outside 'top 10' in April. After entering ninth place in May, he ranked fourth in June and became No. 1 this time. At the end of June, Judge was No. 1 and Ohtani was No. 2. While passing the All-Star break, 'perceptual fluctuations' occurred. The fact that Athletics rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz came in second also proves this.

MLB.com said of Schwarber, `Since mid-June, Schwarber has been making the hottest offensive season of his career by shooting a Schwarberdown bomb.' This year, the 32-year-old has marked 18 home runs with a .714 slugging percentage in his last 39 games and 40 home runs for the third time in four seasons. If you're not sick, you'll definitely get your first 50 home runs in your life.

The first hitter in history to hit 40 home runs. This player's time has arrived
Kyle Schwaber ranks first in the NL with 40 home runs. ImagesYonhap News
Let's look at the ranking as of this day. Schwarber is the No. 1 home run in the NL. In the game against the Baltimore Orioles on the 5th, he beat Ohtani (38 home runs) by hitting a series of two-run shots and bases loaded. The two leagues are second only to Seattle Mariners Carrolli (42).




With 94 RBIs, the team ranks first in both leagues. OPS (0.964) and slugging percentage (0.585) are second in the NL after Ohtani, and second in walks after New York Mets Juan Soto (87). Of course, 136 strikeouts are still a lot in the NL fourth place, but that's not an important yardstick in evaluating Schwarber.

For this reason, it is said that Schwarber is threatening Ohtani in the NL MVP competition. It should be noted that Ohtani's Dodgers and Schwarber's Philadelphia are both ranked first in their districts. Schwaber also fully deserves to be MVP considering both individual and team performance.

Does MLB.com think 'Otani will be MVP again? Schwaber's momentum can surprise you'There is growing sentiment that if Schwaber hits like he does now, he can chase Ohtani for the NL MVP. No other player is more important than Schwarber in the Phillies, who are ranked first this season. He said he will become an FA at the end of this season.




The media then said that at a time when Otani and Judge did not go to the swing-off of the All-Star Game, Schwarber played and hit three home runs to lead the NL victory. He said he made the All-Star Game more interesting than the other players.

The first hitter in history to hit 40 home runs. This player's time has arrived
Kyle Schwaber is posing as the MVP who led the NL victory in the All-Star Game held at Truist Park on the 16th of last month (Korea time). ImagesYonhap News
Schwarber's major league career is truly turbulent. The fourth overall pick by the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the 2014 draft, he made his major league debut the following year, hitting 16 home runs in 69 games, showing his quality as a big shot.

Schwaber, who ended the season with a severe left knee and ankle injury at the beginning of the 2016 season, returned to the World Series against the Cleveland Guardians that year and hit hard, drawing attention. He hit .412 (7 hits in 17 at-bats) with two RBIs and three walks in five games, helping the Cubs reach the top of the World Series for the first time in 108 years.

He began to become a major league representative by hitting 30 home runs in 2017. However, although Schumaber hit 121 home runs for the Cubs in a relatively healthy body until 2020, he was humiliated to be excluded from the renewal as a non-tender for the Cubs in November of that year. He hit 11 home runs and a batting average of 0.188 in 59 games that year, which was a shortened season, due to the style of hitting 'all or nothing'.

Schwarber, who signed a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals in 2021 and built a new nest, moved to the Boston Red Sox through a trade at the end of July of that year to continue his performance, finishing the season with a batting average of 0.266, 32 homers and an OPS of 0.928. However, when he became an FA after the season, Boston also did not renew his contract.

The first hitter in history to hit 40 home runs. This player's time has arrived
It is said that Kyle Schwarber's contribution to Philadelphia's No. 1 ranking in the NL East. AP Yonhap News
The team that recognized Schwarber, who seemed to have nowhere to go, was Philadelphia. After signing a four-year, $79 million contract with Philadelphia in the spring training in 2022 and becoming the NL home run king with 46 home runs in his first season, he hit 47 home runs even though he hit a batting average of 0.197 in 2023, marking the first time in history that he hit 40 home runs for a hitter in his .100s. Last year, he continued his momentum with a batting average of 0.248, 38 homers, 104 RBIs, 106 walks, and an OPS of 0.851.

If Schwarber adds 18 homers, he will tie Ryan Howard's record for most homers in a season in Philadelphia in 2006. But he said "I don't go on the field and try to set a record. I just go out every day with the same mind and help my colleagues. It's great to set a record, but great even if you don't, you're great."

Jersey, born in April 1992, and Otani, born in July 1994. Schwarber was born in March 1993, in the middle of that. It's the obvious Jersey-Otani era, but the Schwarber era has also arrived.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.