January 23, 2021

Washington Nationals outfielder Kyle Schwarber had his worst big league season in 2020, a poor enough showing that landed him a ticket out of the Windy City and into the nation's capital. The lefty slugger will look to bounce back in a rebuilt Washington lineup along with fellow NL Central defector Josh Bell, both of whom hope to provide much need protection for superstar Juan Soto. Schwarber certainly has the power to strike fear into opposing pitchers, with a career .249 ISO and .343 wOBA, but he'll need to rebound after a pitiful 2020 campaign. Schwarber put up career-worsts across the board, posting a .188 BA, .701 OPS, 29.5% K rate, and .204 ISO. Those numbers hardly make Schwarber worthy of a big league job, especially considering his poor outfield defense. Fortunately, Schwarber should be afforded a long leash in Washington, as the club doesn't have currently anyone to threaten his job in left field. He'll be just 28 years old on opening day, so Schwarber still finds himself in his physical prime, meaning a rebound is in the cards. His 92.8 MPH average exit velocity and 40.8% hard hit rate indicate that great power still lurks in his bat. He'll need to improve upon a career-high 50.8% ground ball rate and 49.6% pull rate if he hopes to increase his atrocious .219 BABIP from a year ago. With a current NFBC ADP around 200, Schwarber could be a nice value for those in need of power late in drafts, though his ultimate upside is probably an average range of .240-.250 with 25-30 home runs in a 162-game season.--Elliott Baas