What Philadelphia Phillies Lineup Without Kyle Schwarber Leading Off Could Look Like

The Philadelphia Phillies will reportedly shake up their batting order in 2025. Where could Kyle Schwarber land?

Sep 9, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) shakes hands with shortstop Trea Turner (7) after hitting a solo home run during the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Citizens Bank Park. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies had one of the most productive lineups in baseball during the 2024 regular season.

They finished fifth in runs per game, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. It wasn’t a one-dimensional offense as they were top six in doubles, home runs, stolen bases and OPS+, getting the job done every which way.

As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

When it comes to the Phillies lineup, it would seem that they have a good thing going with the order they had in 2024.

Kyle Schwarber was entrenched as the leadoff hitter for all 150 games he played. Behind him was Trea Turner in the No. 2 spot for all 121 game she played in. Bryce Harper, who played in 145 games, took all of his at-bats from the No. 3 spot.

Alec Bohm spent most of the season in the clean-up spot, never hitting below No. 5 in the order.

Despite that success, manager Rob Thomson has hinted that changes will be made to the order in 2025.

Schwarber is expected to be removed from the leadoff spot, with Turner being mentioned as a replacement for him.

If that is something the team opts to do, what could the rest of their lineup look like?

Todd Zolecki of MLB.com shared Opening Day projections for the team and the batting order he came up with would seem to be a good guess as to what Thompson could opt to deploy.

Turner, Harper, Bohm, Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, Bryson Stott, JT Realmuto, Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh would be the order and make a lot of sense.

In the past, teams wanted their best hitters in the 3 and 4 spots. Nowadays, with analytics changing how games are managed, the best hitter in a lineup is normally in the No. 2 spot.

That is an adjustment Philadelphia would be making with this change, as Harper would move into that spot behind Turner.

This alignment would also make navigating late-game situations difficult for opponents with alternating right and left-handed hitters. Kepler and Marsh, both left-handed hitters, would be the only back-to-back from the same side of the plate.

Pushing Schwarber down to the cleanup spot could increase the team’s run potential given his prodigious power.

Being in a spot in the lineup that should enable him to hit with runners on base more often is a smart change to make. His patience and on-base ability were excellent for the lead-off spot, but he also has the skill set to succeed as a middle-of-the-order bopper.

It would be shocking to see him any lower than No. 4 in the batting order, but he has stated he is willing to hit in any spot as long as the team keeps winning games.

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