The Cubs aren’t hitting any panic buttons, but they are sending a young star back to the minor leagues with the intent of getting things back on the right track. Kyle Schwarber was sent back down to Triple-A Iowa by the Cubs on Thursday.
Schwarber’s stint in the minors is not expected to be a long one, but sometimes a young player needs to escape the spotlight of the big leagues and rediscover what they do well on the farm to turn things around. Through 64 games played, Schwarber had been hitting just .171 with a .295 on-base percentage and he struck out 75 times in 261 plate appearances.
Of course, in the advanced stats department, there is some disagreement over whether or not this is the right move for the Cubbies.
Maybe Schwarber would be able to hit himself out what has been a season-long funk if he stayed at the major league level in Chicago, but the Cubs are sitting in second place in the NL Central a slight 1.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers and just one game above .500. If Schwarber gets his swing back in good order and proves capable of producing at the plate once again at Iowa and then returns to contribute to the Cubs in the second half of the season, then the move would be more than justified.
Schwarber missed the large majority of the 2016 season after colliding with Dexter Fowler and tearing his ACL and MCL early in the year. He did not return to the team until the Cubs placed him on the World Series roster last October. That move proved to be a wise decision after Schwarber hit .412 in the five games he appeared against the Cleveland Indians.
A move like this is hardly unprecedented. Just last season, the Los Angeles Dodgers sent Yaisel Puig down to the minors to allow him to refocus his approach to the game a bit. Things worked out OK for Puig with the Dodgers, and odds are Schwarber will bounce back in due time and return to being a contributor in the Cubs lineup. But sometimes you need a break.
As for noted NFL writer Peter King, it’s back to the drawing board.