Phillies legend Ryan Howard shares his first impression of Kyle Schwarber, points out key reasons for the DH's success in 2025

Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber is having another MVP-caliber campaign in Philadelphia. He has been the best offensive player in the National League not names Shohei Ohtani and is the nearest competitor to the Dodgers star in terms of the prestigious individual award. Just to magnify how good Schwarber's season has been, he currently leads the MLB in runs batted in with 129 and the National League in home runs with 53.

Schwarber's supreme form drew admiration from club legend Ryan Howard as evidenced by the latter's most recent interview on The Phillies Show podcast. Howard, who himself, has been the best slugger of the Phillies in the 2000's, shared they key things that sets Schwarber apart from the competition this campaign.

"He's got some pop," said Howard. "But even more so, he was just a great down-to-Earth humble person. I was like, 'this dude is going to be good.' So it doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm excited for him. I'm rooting and cheering for him," he added. (8:44-9:06)

Howard, who set the franchise's single-season home run record in 2006 with 58, also shared his thoughts about Schwarber possibly tying, or even surpassing it this year.

"You know what I did in 2006, it's one of those things where it was just a pure kind of like video game blackout moment in a sense. When you're in a zone like he's in a zone right now and putting together great [at-bats], that's the other thing too, he doesn't waste [at-bats]. That's been key. Kyle's a guy that when he gets going, he can carry a team." (9:12-9:57) "When you watch guys that hit home runs, there's always a certain aspect to their swing and there's always like a certain type of different explosiveness and finish to their swing ... Kyle's one of those guys where it's like it's so quick and everything stops because the ball just explodes off his bat. It's like he's not trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. It's like he's just letting the bat run into the ball." (11:48-12:51)

Phillies overcome Dodgers in extras, clinch second-straight NL East title

The Phillies outlasted the reigning champion Dodgers on their September 15 matchup at home in what could be a preview of one of this year's postseason matchups. In addition, the former claimed their second-straight NL East title after a titanic collapse by the Mets down the stretch.

J.T. Realmuto's sacrifice fly in the 10th pushed the Phillies over the line as they claimed a 6-5 victory against their fellow powerhouse opponents as pitcher Ranger Suarez tossed a respectable six innings of three-ruun ball on seven base hits with five K's.

Edited by Daniel Santiago