60 (or 70?) home runs? What Kyle Schwarber's early…

Kyle Schwarber is once again lighting up the scoreboard with a barrage of home runs. One year after totaling 56 home runs, the Philadelphia Phillies slugger has 20 home runs through the team’s first 49 games, putting him on pace for 66 on the season.

Will the 33-year-old designated hitter join the 60 home run club? Or will his pace falter as the season goes on? With the Phillies having turned things around since replacing manager Rob Thomson with Don Mattingly, the race to 60 … or 70 … is on full throttle.

Here are 10 fun facts about Schwarber’s 2026 campaign.

1. Schwarber is just the 18th player in MLB history with at least 20 home runs through a team’s first 49 games and the first since Josh Hamilton hit 20 in 2012. The most homers through 49 games belongs to Mark McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001 with 25 — the seasons McGwire set the record with 70 home runs and then Bonds broke it with 73. Cal Raleigh had 16 through 49 games last year on his way to 60, while Aaron Judge had 18 homers through the first 49 games of 2022, when he set the American League record with 62.

2. Schwarber’s 66-home-run pace would tie Sammy Sosa for the third-highest total of all time. With Judge and Raleigh turning in just the ninth and 10th 60-homer seasons in recent years — and with Schwarber himself blasting 56 last year and Shohei Ohtani hitting 54 and 55 the past two seasons — these monster home run totals are becoming the norm in MLB.

3. There have been just 54 seasons with 50-plus home runs in major league history. It’s still a stunning accomplishment. In this era of blazing fastballs and pitching wizards — the leaguewide batting average is just .241 — the ability of these sluggers to launch home runs is still must-watch TV. Indeed, given the caliber of pitching that hitters face in today’s game, Schwarber and company have arguably mastered the art of hitting the long ball better than any other era of sluggers.

4. It’s apropos that Schwarber is getting his moment. His 56 home runs last season flew under the radar with Raleigh chasing 60 and Judge and Ohtani doing their thing. Since he joined the Phillies in 2022, only Judge has more home runs than Schwarber’s 207. Is chasing Bonds’ home run record realistic? Probably not. McGwire and Bonds both got off to fast starts, so Schwarber is already behind their pace — and it’s more difficult to do it from behind than ahead. But for the second straight season, the chase for 60 is on.

5. That said, few hitters can go on home run tears like Schwarber can. When he gets locked in, the big flies come in bunches. Check out some of his stretches since 2021:

• 2021: 16 home runs in 18 games in June when he was with the Nationals

• 2022: 16 home runs in 32 games in June and July after he had signed with the Phillies

• 2023: 16 home runs in 30 games in August and early September

• 2024: 10 home runs in 20 games in September

• 2025: 15 home runs in 27 games in July and early August — and that doesn’t include a four-homer game in late August

• 2026: 12 home runs in 18 games from April 26 through May 15

He’ll need a couple more stretches like the one he just had to make a run at 70 — but the hot weather is arriving. Plus, Citizens Bank Park is a home run paradise. Never say never.

6. Schwarber is one of the purest three-true-outcomes hitters of all time. He has struck out, walked or hit a home run in 49.2% of his career plate appearances — the fifth-highest rate among players with at least 3,000 career plate appearances, behind only Joey Gallo, Judge, Russell Branyan and Adam Dunn. Since joining the Phillies, Schwarber’s rate in that category has been even higher at 51.1%, including 56.8% so far in 2026. Indeed, he’s striking out more often than in any of his previous four seasons with the Phillies — while homering more often as well.

7. Schwarber’s .230 batting average raises the question: Can a .230 hitter make enough contact to hit 60 home runs? Raleigh hit .247 last season and Schwarber hit .240, the two lowest batting averages ever among those 54 times a player hit at least 50 home runs. As you might expect, both sluggers are extreme fly ball hitters — Raleigh is first this season in fly ball percentage among qualified hitters and Schwarber is third (with Munetaka Murakami second). Last year, Raleigh ranked first — and Schwarber 16th. Schwarber’s average isn’t higher in 2026, but he’s hitting more fly balls … which means home runs.

In fact, among the 167 players who have hit at least 300 career home runs, only three were more likely to hit a home run than Schwarber when stepping to the plate: McGwire, Judge and some guy named Babe Ruth. Schwarber has homered in 6.4% of his career plate appearances.

8. It’s all about damage on contact for Schwarber. Here’s what happens when he puts a ball in play, compared to some of those other 60-homer seasons:

Bonds, 2001 (73 HRs): .408 average/1.482 OPS
McGwire, 1998 (70 HRs): .433 average/1.519 OPS
Sammy Sosa, 1998 (66 HRs): .428 average/1.322 OPS
Judge, 2022 (62 HRs): .448 average/1.432 OPS
Raleigh, 2025 (60 HRs): .360 average/1.218 OPS
Schwarber, 2025 (56 HRs): .356 average/1.191 OPS
Schwarber, 2026 (20 HRs): .380 average/1.407 OPS

You can see that Schwarber is doing more damage than last season. That’s his goal with every swing. He’s not trying to hit an opposite-field single to left.

9. Schwarber’s impact goes beyond his ability to hit home runs, as he’s revered as a great teammate and has played well in the postseason — his teams have made the playoffs all but one of his 12 seasons in the majors. He’s a winner and without ego, a team-first player. It’s one of the reasons he was so sought-after during free agency this past winter.

He re-signed with the Phillies on a five-year, $150 million contract — while heading into his age-33 season. The deal wasn’t without its critics. It was the biggest guarantee ever for a free agent position player 33 or older, surpassing Josh Donaldson’s $92 million deal with the Minnesota Twins before the 2020 season. Schwarber, of course, is also primarily just a DH (he started eight games in left field last season and two so far in 2026). That might make it seem like an overpay, although the Baltimore Orioles offered a similar five-year, $150 million deal while the Cincinnati Reds — the team Schwarber grew up rooting for in nearby Middletown, Ohio — made an offer in the $125 million range. The Pittsburgh Pirates reportedly made a four-year, $125 million offer.

10. Will Schwarber age well? Several teams must expect him to, since the five-year deal runs through his age-37 season. That might not be an unreasonable assumption, even though we’re seeing fewer hitters maintaining their productivity into their mid-30s. Schwarber still has elite bat speed: a 97th percentile ranking this season. He knows the strike zone. We’ve seen Schwarber-types have long careers: Jim Thome played until he was 41 years old; Reggie Jackson, still the career leader in strikeouts, also played until he was 41; and Nelson Cruz, a pure DH the final seven years of his career, lasted to age 42.

There’s a good chance that Schwarber remains productive through the life of this contract.