Phillies remain committed to keeping Schwarber beyond 2025

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber's deep shots — from Philadelphia to the All-Star Game - often end up going, going, gone. The Phillies aren't ready to say goodbye to their star slugger quite yet as Schwarber's four-year, $79-million contract expires at the end of the season. Fresh off winning All-Star Game MVP honors after he hit three homers in the game's first-ever swing-off, Schwarber's status for 2026 — when Philadelphia will host the game — remained a pressing need for the Phillies. "We love him. We want to keep him," Phillies manager partner John Middleton said ahead of Friday's series-opening game against the Los Angeles Angels. In the All-Star Game in Atlanta on Tuesday night, he homered on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to give the National League a 4-3, swing-off win after a 6-6 tie through nine innings. Schwarber enters the second half of the season with 30 homers and 69 RBIs for NL East-leading Philadelphia. Schwarber led the NL with 46 homers in his first season with the Phillies and followed with 47 in 2023 and 38 a year ago. Often hitting from the leadoff spot until this season, Schwarber drove in 104 runs each of the last two season. "We need no motivation whatsoever when it comes to Kyle Schwarber," Middleton said. "He's great. We thought he was great when we signed him years ago. We thought he was great consistently through the years. There's nothing Kyle does that surprises us. No matter how great he is, we expect that from Kyle. He's a great person in the dugout. He's a great person in the clubhouse." The 32-year-old Schwarber should command well beyond the $79 million he signed for ahead of the 2022 season. Schwarber won a World Series with the Cubs in 2016. He also played in Washington and Boston, but has seemed to find a home in Philadelphia where his mammoth homers — dubbed Schwarbombs — have made him arguably the most popular Phillies star. Schwarber said during the All-Star break that he wanted to keep the focus on helping the Phillies win their first World Series since 2008. "We had conversations in the spring and obviously they didn't progress," he said. "We just kind of tabled them aside and wanted to focus on the season. Obviously, there's interest on my side. I know there's going to be interest on their side there coming up at the end of the year. We're going to see where that takes us. If that's us striking up a deal, that's us striking up a deal." ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB