Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber only managed five plate appearances in the regular season before tearing his ACL on an outfield collision on April 7. He's been rehabbing throughout the season and now, per the Chicago Tribune and multiple reports, Schwarber will start Saturday night for the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League.
Did your eyes get a little wider with your interest heavily piqued? Same here.
If the Cubs advance to the World Series, which is obviously still a big "if," Schwarber would be eligible to be on the roster. My inclination is that if this happened, he'd be a bench bat for the first several games, but remember, Games 6 and 7, if necessary, would have a designated hitter. What if Schwarber has shown he's shaken off the rust by then?
Hmm ...
Of course, not only do the Cubs have to get there first, but Schwarber will also need to show he's ready to jump right into the most important series of the year -- probably in the history of the Cubs' franchise -- with minimal time to impress.
The Arizona Fall League can't be used as a minor-league rehab assignment, but Schwarber is still eligible given that he's only appeared in 71 regular-season MLB games in his career.
In those 71 games, Schwarber has hit .242/.353/.479 with 16 homers. In his 31 postseason plate appearances last season, Schwarber hit .333/.419/.889 with five homers and eight RBI in nine games.
The other DH options the Cubs would have -- again, they have to get there first -- would be the likes of Willson Contreras (R), Jorge Soler (R) and Chris Coghlan (L). Schwarber swings lefty, so if he quickly gets back up to game speed, one could argue he's the best DH option.
For now, though, this is less concrete and more "holy cow, what if ... "
It's at least fun to imagine, right?
