Kyle Schwarber’s powerful bat has been absent from the Chicago Cubs lineup since the third game of the 2016 season, when the outfielder suffered a torn ACL and LCL. His availability for the World Series has yet to be determined.
Continue for updates.
Latest on Schwarber’s Rehab
Monday, Oct. 24
Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reported Schwarber will serve as a designated hitter in the Arizona Fall League on Monday and will fly to Cleveland to join the Cubs afterward.
Epstein Comments on Schwarber’s Status
Saturday, Oct. 22
“He’s made it to a best-case scenario after six months,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com regarding Schwarber’s recovery. “We’re not ruling anything in; we’re not ruling anything out. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We have a lot of work here before this becomes pertinent.”
Schwarber Has Missed Most of Cubs’ Historic Season
The second-year outfielder suffered the injury when he collided with teammate Dexter Fowler while pursuing a fly ball during an April 7 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks:
Schwarber underwent surgery April 19 and missed the remainder of the regular season.
But Epstein suggested the outfielder is on the cusp of making an unlikely return if the Cubs win one more game thanks to his hard work during rehabilitation, per Rogers:
It was a pleasant surprise. We got news that was better than expected. …
He asked for a chance to do this. 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. …
We’re going to evaluate him day to day from a medical standpoint and a baseball standpoint.
With the Cubs having made it to the World Series for the first time since 1945, they could add a bat that hit 16 home runs with 43 RBI in just 69 games last season as they try and clinch their first title since 1908.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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