Player Profile: Kyle Schwarber, OF, Chicago Cubs

Last year there seemed to be two types of people going into fantasy baseball drafts, those who loved Schwarber and those who felt a little sheepish of the catcher turned outfielder. It turns out those who were a little sheepish had good reason to be as he struggled in the first half and had to be sent back down to the minors. With that being said he will not have catcher eligibility going into the 2018 season, and will probably never play the position again in his major league career.

With Schwarber there is no denying his tremendous power. Seen as having forty home run potential, his career 37.9 hard contact rate and 44.7 fly ball rate speak for themselves. The only question concerning him is if he will be able to make consistent enough contact to be fantasy relevant. With a career strikeout rate of 30.0%, you would think he would never hit above the .250 mark. However his swinging strike rate dropped mightily in 2017. Although it is still below average, he is still young and shows a lot of promise. When Schwarber came back from the minor leagues after struggling in the major leagues, he had a hard contact rate of 41.6, a batting average of .255, and hit 18 home runs in just 225 plate appearances, so I expect big things from the 25 year old in 2018.