The Chicago Cubs were the best team in baseball this season despite the absence of one of their most promising young hitters.
Well, that guy could be coming back at just the right time.
Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber has been cleared to hit by doctors, and the team hasn’t ruled out his potential return for its World Series matchup with the Cleveland Indians, team president Theo Epstein said Saturday. Schwarber likely would serve as Chicago’s designated hitter if he was able to come back for Game 1, which is Tuesday in Cleveland.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Epstein said of getting the news on Schwarber, via ESPN.com. “We got news that was better than expected.”
Schwarber tore two ligaments in his left knee in just Chicago’s third game of the season during a nasty collision with center fielder Dexter Fowler. It was a crushing blow for the 23-year-old slugger, who burst onto the scene last season with 16 homers and 43 RBIs in his first 69 major league games and hit five more long balls in the 2015 postseason.
The Cubs were just fine without Schwarber this year, rolling to a Major League Baseball-best 103-58 record and dispatching the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series to reach their first World Series since 1945.
Yet they’d undoubtedly get a big boost from the 6-foot, 235-pound power hitter, who reported to the Arizona Fall League on Saturday. Schwarber went 0-for-3 with a walk for the Mesa Solar Sox on Saturday.
“He asked for a chance to do this,” Epstein said. “With as hard as Kyle has worked and as much as this means to him — and potentially us — we wanted to give him that opportunity.”
Thumbnail photo via John Durr/USA TODAY Sports Images
