Cubs News: Schwarber: "I want to be one of the best in the game" |
Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber spoke to the various members of the media after his arrival to Triple-A Iowa to play the New Orleans Baby Cakes on Monday night.
"The numbers spoke for themselves, Schwarber said. "Obviously, you don’t ever want to come back down here. But it’s an opportunity to relax, get back to being myself and try to get back up.” In 2017, Schwarber is batting .171 with 12 homers, 28 RBI, and .295 on-base percentage. He had struck out at an alarming rate -- 75 times in 222 at-bats this season and has the lowest batting average for any regular in the majors. Schwarber is also batting a terrible .143 against lefties this season. Schwarber still has confidence that he will be back with the Cubs in short time. "I ain’t a guy to back down from the challenge," he said. "I’m not going to back down at all — trust me." "A demotion’s a demotion,” Schwarber said. "It’s something you don’t ever want to happen. It ticks you off a little bit, but you also can’t press or anything like that to try to make things happen. You’ve got to go back to what made you successful."
Schwarber still has lofty goals to be one of the elite players in the major leagues despite the demotion to Triple-A Iowa.
"I want to be one of the best in the game,” Schwarber said. "This is just a step. This game is always a continuous learning curve. I learn something new every day in baseball. I want to be one of the best out there. I want to help the Cubs get back to the championship."
Schwarber finished Monday night's game going 1-for-4 with three strikeouts and a long single. Remember that because of injury, he has still played less than one full season of major league baseball. Hopefully, he will retool his approach, relax, and be back better than ever.
Last season, he hit .412 with a .971 OPS in five games as a hero in the 2016 World Series.
Schwarber hit .246 with 16 home runs, 43 RBIs with an outstanding .842 OPS in only 69 games (273 at-bats) in his rookie season. For his career, he is batting .207 with 28 homers, 71 RBI, and a .325 on-base percentage.
He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first round (4th overall) in the 2014 MLB Draft.
Kyle Schwarber getting in some early work again. Game is at 7:08 tonight. He's the only one out hitting at Principal Park right now. #Cubs pic.twitter.com/j9t4SSSUvV
— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) June 27, 2017
