Boston acquired Kyle Schwarber at the trade deadline while he was on the injured list with a strained hamstring. The Red Sox knew they were getting one of baseball's hottest hitters, but there was uncertainty about how fans would receive him.
"It felt like the first day of school again," Schwarber said. "It's going to be weird when you're trading for a hurt guy. What are they going to think about me when I walk in?"
At the time, Boston sat atop the American League East with established stars including Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez in the clubhouse.
The Simple Advice That Changed Everything
Schwarber saw Kevin Plawecki in the clubhouse. The two barely knew each other beyond overlapping Big Ten roots—Plawecki played at Purdue, Schwarber at Indiana.
After the trade, then-Nationals hitting coach Kevin Long—who helped revitalize Schwarber's career in Washington and has been his hitting coach with the Phillies since 2022—offered simple advice:
"Go introduce yourself to Plawecki."
Schwarber listened. Plawecki, despite serving as Boston's backup catcher, was among the most respected players in the clubhouse.
"I can't say enough good things about Kyle," said Plawecki, now serving as the Padres' catching coach. "He's a special individual. You have to be around him to know it."
From Cubs to Red Sox to Phillies
Schwarber was loved by Cubs fans in Chicago long before the homers arrived consistently, when injuries still defined much of his career.
He mashed 25 home runs in 72 games with a National team drifting toward the bottom of the standings in 2021. But upon arriving in Boston, something else consumed him.
Schwarber helped push Boston to within two wins of a World Series appearance. The moonshots played. So did the edge. Red Sox fans saw a slugger with a rugged beard and October in his bloodstream.
The Stabilizer
Inside the clubhouse, Schwarber's impact stretched deeper than tape-measure home runs and postseason theatrics.
"He's been through it, man," said teammate Bryce Harper. "He's been through the wringer. He was non-tendered. He went through ups and downs. First-round pick, to playing in the minors, raking in the minors, going to the big leagues, playing great in the postseason, gets non-tendered and then comes back, and he's an absolute machine."
After a down 2020 season (.188/.308/.393 slash line in 59 games during the COVID-shortened season), the Cubs non-tendered Schwarber—the slugger the organization drafted and watched help end a 108-year championship drought.
The failures. The demotion. The uncertainty. The feeling of baseball telling you maybe you weren't who you thought you were. All of it hardened Schwarber.
This is about something harder to find: a stabilizer. A connector. The rare star capable of making everyone else breathe a little easier around him.
Schwarber homered in his first Phillies at-bat in 2022 and has not stopped endearing himself to the Philadelphia fanbase since. He is easily one of the most beloved figures in baseball—in the stands and in clubhouses.