It's easy to understand why Kyle Schwarber can't wait to go back to crushing the baseball.
The Boston Red Sox outfielder/first baseman told reporters Tuesday he's eager to return from injury and debut with his new team. Schwarber has been out since early July due to a hamstring strain, but his absence hasn't kept him out of the headlines. The Red Sox acquired him from the Washington Nationals on July 29 in a trade with hopes he'd add pop to the lineup quickly. However, the groin injury he suffered last week, one he believes is minor, has extended his recovery timeline.
"There's a tiny little setback, it's just kind of lingering,” Schwarber said, per The Boston Globe's Julian Benbow. "But I feel like that it'll be sooner rather than later to get back out here, so I'm pretty happy about that.
"Knowing me, I want to be out here, I want to play baseball, I want to help. I felt like it's been a long time already since I've been back out playing. Yeah, I get antsy, but you also have to respect the training staff and what their opinions are so they'll be able to check off the boxes completely to make sure that injury doesn’t happen again. That's kind of the biggest thing."
Alex Cora on Tuesday provided a similarly encouraging update on Schwarber, saying the team is feeling "much better" about his status than it did over the weekend. It sounds like it won't be too much longer before the 28-year-old slugger takes the field for Boston, and his presence will come at the perfect time.
Schwarber is batting .253 with 25 homers in 72 games in 2021. Those numbers should boost a slumping Red Sox squad, which has lost 10 of the 12 games it has played since July 29.
