March 03, 2026
Baseball is back — and so are most of the Phillies.
After a dominating 96-win season in 2025 and a devastating early exit to the eventual World Series champions, the Dodgers, the championship window is still open for the Phils, but for how long?
The Phillies will enter 2026 with the fifth best World Series odds (+1500, via FanDuel). Expectations are still high, as is the level of talent in the clubhouse.
Sticking to their organizational mentality that keeping the window open requires keeping the core together — while also opening up some space for an infusion of young talent — a largely familiar group will be returning to comprise the 26-man roster when camp breaks in March.
As we do every preseason, here's a deep dive into each position on the roster and its outlook heading toward Opening Day. Today, it's a look at designated hitter and the $150 million man, Kyle Schwarber.
This one is about as straightforward as it gets: Kyle Schwarber is the Phillies' designated hitter.
He's occupied that spot since Bryce Harper was cleared to take the field again in 2023, operates best at that position, took it to MVP levels last year, and at minimum, he'll crush 40-something home runs and 100-plus runs batted in as an ever-present threat in the lineup.
Schwarber has the quickest bat that maybe anyone in Philadelphia has ever seen, maybe even just the strongest, too, and definitely one of the sharpest eyes, as more than 100 walks in the past three seasons can attest to.
And that entire package isn't going anywhere anytime soon, as Schwarber signed a five-year, $150 million deal in December to remain in red pinstripes well into his late 30s.
So if there are any certainties around here, it's Schwarbombs getting ripped more than 400 feet into the right-field seats in the summer.
The real question is: How many of them?
Last year, it was 56, which came really close to reaching Ryan Howard's single-season record of 58 homers hit during his MVP run in 2006.
In 2026, fans will be looking to see if Schwarber can top that and maybe even hit 60.
Using the go-to Opening Day lineups as projected by FanGraphs, here's a look at the other bats you might see as designated hitters across the NL East this coming season, using their 2025 slash lines and 2026 projected lines (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage), and 2025 WAR ratings (wins above replacement) as a means of comparison:
| Player, Club | 2025 slash line | 2026 proj. | 2025 WAR (Gms) |
| Kyle Schwarber, PHI | .240/.365/.563 | .231/.352/.501 | 4.7 (162) |
| Brett Baty, NYM | .254/.313/.435 | .243/.309/.399 | 3.1 (130) |
| Jurickson Profar, ATL | .245/.353/.434 | .256/.349/.421 | 1.1 (80) |
| Griffin Conine, MIA | .253/.314/.418 | .250/.315/.421 | 0.1 (24) |
| James Wood, WSH | .256/.350/.475 | .265/.354/.466 | 3.7 (157) |
Yeah, none of those guys are Schwarber.
The specialized hitter he has developed into, which has been enabled by the universal DH rule, is pretty unique in that regard.
Baty, though, is a former top prospect who the Mets are awaiting a full breakout from, but got positionally blocked from third base when they signed Bo Bichette in the winter. Mark Vientos, who also rotated around the New York lineup mostly through third base and DH, will likely see more DH plate appearances in 2026, too.
Profar was tagged with an 80-game PED suspension early into last season, which came with ineligibility for the postseason and contributed to the Braves' meltdown.
Conine is a 28-year-old outfielder looking for a full-time role in Miami.
Wood hit 31 homers last season for the Nationals, and is a 23-year-old who is helping to define a pretty young Washington team.
Schwarber appeared in all 162 games last season, and that five-year, $150 million pact pretty much ensures that the DH spot in the lineup is all his for the foreseeable future.
Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, Adolis García, or any of the Phillies' notable bats with some pop may fill in for a day off or in the event of a Schwarber injury, but again, this one is pretty straightforward, for the present and the future.
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