Kyle Schwarber On His Way to Major League Stardom

     We all know about how bright the future of baseball is. From Mike Trout, to Bryce Harper to Kris Bryant, we are now seeing the talent that will dominate major league baseball for the next decade. However, there is one player often overlooked that isn't getting nearly enough credit for what he has done in such a short period of time. Enter Kyle Schwarber, a 22-year-old catcher who was drafted 4th overall by the Chicago Cubs in the 2014 MLB Draft. Nicknamed "Hulk" (but Schwarbsy has to be brought up one day) the 6'0 235 pounder from Middletown, Ohio is quickly taking the NL by storm. Schwarber is just one of the many Cubs young guns who are quickly making a name for themselves around the league, and while the names like Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Jorge Soler are tremendous young talents, it's Schwarber who stands out the most for me, simply because of his ability behind the plate. We've seen a barrage of young outfielders come up through the ranks the past few years, but it hasn't been since the arrival of Buster Posey that we've seen a young talent who primarily plays behind the plate and also possesses incredible power and precision at the plate.

     The numbers Schwarber has been putting up in just two months in the big leagues are insane. Schwarber is currently hitting .330 with 8 home runs and 25 runs driven in. I must reiterate that all of this has been in the span of just 31 games since being called up from AAA Iowa. The scary thing is he's getting much more comfortable after every game. In the past 15 games, Schwarber's average has taken a hit, but he has still hit 5 homers alongside 14 RBI's. In his past 7 games, he's hitting .296 with 3 homers and 10 RBI, with two of those bombs coming just the other night against the Milwaukee Brewers. For a little bit of prospective, if Schwarber began the season with the Cubs and played like he has been all season, he'd finish with a projected 32 home runs and 101 runs driven in, in his rookie season. Again, extremely rare to find in a young backstopper.

     While it is still too early to tell where Schwarber's career will take him, as of right now he looks to be the final piece to the puzzle for the youthful Cubs who are looking to end the longest World Series drought in baseball, with their last world series win coming 105 years ago in 1908. With a studded young roster, the Cubs are currently find themselves amidst the toughest division in baseball in the NL Central where despite their impressive record of 65-48 they find themselves in third behind the league-best St. Louis Cardinals (73-41) and the Pittsburgh Pirates (66-46). Luckily, the Cubs do have a 4.5 game lead over the San Francisco Giants for the final Wild Card playoff spot where they would take on the Pirates if they can hold onto the spot. Cubs fans should rest assured if they don't manage to make a good run this season however, as they have the best young talent in the league by far. If the Cubbies don't make it back to the World Series this year, they have even better odds the next year. If the Cubs play their cards right, they can be contenders in the NL Central for years to come with guys like Schwarber and company. Much like we're now seeing with the Houston Astros, the league's former bottom-dwellers are finally turning a corner, and the rest of the league better watch out.

     It's only been two months since Schwarber joined the league, and while he's set the NL on fire since getting called up by the Cubs, there's still a lot of work for the 22-year-old to achieve star status around the league. However, you can't deny he's off to one hell of a start.