Heading into play on Tuesday, the Philadelphia Phillies possess an 84-60 record and sit eight games ahead of the second-place New York Mets in the NL East. Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber’s contributions at the plate have played a major role in that regular-season success.
Schwarber leads the National League in a number of statistical categories — including home runs (49), RBIs (120) and games played (144) — and is in the top three in both OPS (second, .925) and walks (third, 95). Those numbers have put him firmly in contention for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award.
They will also be used as leverage on the free-agent market this winter, regardless of whether he wins the award, and certainly enhance his value — which, despite his accomplishments, has been placed under question since he does not play in the field.
Schwarber projected to earn $100 million over the duration of his new contract
This winter won’t be Schwarber’s first rodeo with free agency. After declining the mutual option in his previous contract with the Boston Red Sox, he elected to test the market following the 2022 season.
It wasn’t until the following March that Schwarber landed a four-year, $79 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Longevity will be a concern for any team looking to sign Schwarber, who is heading into his age-33 season in 2026. But the fact that he will suffer less wear and tear just hitting, as opposed to hitting and playing defense, should make clubs strongly consider a longer-term deal.
Spotrac projects that Schwarber will see a modest pay increase with his next contract, which will last four years and pay him $100,560,068 in total (or 25,140,017 per year).
Such a deal would be the second-most expensive among designated hitters not named Shohei Ohtani (the Houston Astros paid Yordan Alvarez $115 million over six years in 2023). According to Spotrac, it would also be sixth-largest given to a position player this winter. The outlet’s projections have Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman and Trevor Story making more.
The other piece to Schwarber’s free-agency puzzle is where he will land. While it remains to seen which club he ultimately ends up with, MLB Network insider Jon Heyman expressed optimism that he will remain with the Phillies for the foreseeable future.
