Kyle Schwarber Is on His Way To Getting Paid in Free Agency

After rising through the ranks as a top prospect in the Chicago Cubs’ system, Kyle Schwarber quickly lived up to the hype in his 2015 rookie campaign. He ended with a 131 wRC+ in 69 regular season games and followed that up with five homers and an impressive 248 wRC+ in the postseason that year.

But other than a 170 wRC+ in the 2016 postseason, Schwarber never quite looked the same with the Cubs after tearing his ACL and LCL at the start of the 2016 campaign. As a result, the slugger was non-tendered following the 2020 season.

No one would be remiss if they thought that Schwarber’s best days were behind him. After all, his best season at the plate was an above average, but not overly special 119 wRC+. When paired with his defensive inabilities, his outlook was even less exciting when he hit the open market.

However, a split season between the Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox in 2021 saw Schwarber post a career-high 145 wRC+, landing him a sizeable four-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies the following season.

Since then, Schwarber hasn’t looked back, rifling off quality offensive season after quality offensive season. He’s become not only one of the top pure designated hitters in MLB, but one of baseball’s most prolific power hitters in general.

So, as Schwarber once again finds himself tearing the cover off the ball — which very well might result in the best season of his career — his free-agent stock continues to rise. A massive payday is likely in order for the 32-year-old slugger this winter.

Stats and rankings taken prior to play on May 12.

How Much Is Schwarber Actually Worth on the Open Market?

Trying to evaluate how much money a designated hitter will get in free agency is a trickier task than other positions because teams will need to ask themselves this: How much are we willing to pay for someone who will not contribute defensively?

The answer is just as much of a gray area as the initial question, as it truly depends on how good the hitter actually is.

In Schwarber’s case, we’re again talking about one of the baseball’s most formidable power hitters in recent years.

Obviously a 38 HR, 104 RBI, and 135 wRC+ showing in his most recent full-season sample size, paired with a 14 HR and 173 wRC+ start to his 2025 campaign, gives him a good track record to enter free agency with.

But the fact of the matter is that it’s only a portion of the picture of dominance he’s crafted since being in Philly.

Since the start of 2022, Schwarber’s 143 homers is tied with Shohei Ohtani for second in that span and trail only Aaron Judge’s 169 for the MLB lead. He pairs that with a top-10 ranking in RBI (6th with 330) and top-25 standing in SLG (22nd at .494), OPS (23rd at .842) and wRC+ (24th at 131).

While that’s all great, this is largely amongst hitters who also play defense. So while his offensive numbers may place him in the same top-tier ranks as names like Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and José Ramírez, for example, all of those names bring something to the table outside of their production in the batter’s box.

Since Schwarber is in such high standing offensively, regardless of position, he’s certainly one of the top designated hitters in baseball. So, let’s examine him against some of both the best and highest paid DHs in the game.

How Schwarber Stacks up in the DH Market

The top DHs in baseball right now, apart from Schwarber, are Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Marcell Ozuna and Brent Rooker.

While similarly dominant on the field to Schwarber, each of these names present their own unique differences that make benchmarking a contract for Schwarber quite difficult.

Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract is an anomaly given his history-breaking performance at the plate and his ability to pitch at an elite level (when healthy) as well.

Then there’s Brent Rooker, who just signed a five-year, $60 million extension this winter, but he’s just a year younger than Schwarber and still had arbitration years to buy out, indicating why his contact looks lower for someone who recently posted a 164 wRC+ in 2024.

Another name we haven’t mentioned is Giancarlo Stanton, who from a financial standpoint holds his own with the elite DHs, having the highest present value at the position in 2025.

However, Stanton signed his monster contract during his MVP days in Miami when he was still playing the outfield. Since being traded to the New York Yankees before the 2018 season, he’s failed to consistently remain healthy.

This leaves Yordan Alvarez and Marcell Ozuna, and the latter is in the exact same boat as Schwarber and will be a UFA this winter.

So, by process of elimination, let’s compare Schwarber to Alvarez. While there may be still be discrepancies, he’s probably the best DH to benchmark Schwarber against.

Kyle Schwarber vs. Yordan Alvarez

Currently, Alvarez is in the middle of a six-year, $115 million contract that he signed ahead of the 2023 season. He’s also about to enter the portion of his contract that falls outside of his arbitration years, meaning the backloaded portion of his contract will begin. From 2026 through 2028, Alvarez will be getting paid $26.83 million per year.

If we stack up Alvarez’s numbers against Schwarber’s since he got to the Phillies in 2022, it’s clear to see that while Schwarber has the edge in run production stats, Alvarez is the better overall hitter.

In fact, from that overall standpoint, Alvarez is the third-most productive hitter in MLB by wRC+ since the start of 2022, as his 168 wRC+ trails only Aaron Judge (206 wRC+) and Ohtani (169 wRC+).

Other than a slow start to 2025 (79 wRC+ in 29 games), Alvarez has been right there with the likes of Ohtani at the plate. Now, as we’ve touched on already, Ohtani’s contract has an AAV of $70 million, but that’s to be a two-way player.

So even if you cut that valuation in half to represent the fact Alvarez plays just one part of the game, it’s still more than what Alvarez currently makes. Taking all this into account, it’s reasonable to think that Alvarez is undervalued at roughly $26 million and should probably be somewhere in $30 million range annually.

Given the fact that Alvarez is not only underpaid but also four years younger than Schwarber, those will certainly have a bit of a negative affect on Schwarber’s negotiations this winter.

That being said, Schwarber is certainly due for an upgrade from his $20 million annual salary. He signed that deal on the heels of just one good season in 2021 and has done nothing but continue on that torrid pace.

Pair that with the fact he’s able to hit anywhere in the order at a high level, and it adds some versatility to a position where versatility shouldn’t even be a factor whatsoever.

When you also take into account recent players like Juan Soto and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. massively altering the market with inflated contracts in recent months, then who knows how much an established free-agent DH will cost.

We simply haven’t seen one with Schwarber’s abilities hit the open market quite yet, thus we haven’t received the chance to see how the new “big-money market” has impacted the DH position.

Schwarber has the chance to set the tone for the next generation of full-time DHs seeking free-agent deals. Should he continue to remain on his career-best pace in 2025, then perhaps the unpredictable could become a reality for the Phillies slugger.