While Nick Castellanos struggled in his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kyle Schwarber was worth every penny during year one of a four-year/$79 million free-agent contract.
In addition to immediately becoming a clubhouse leader, Schwarber led the National League with 46 home runs during the regular season, the sixth highest single-season total in franchise history.
For good measure, Schwarber added six more home runs during the Phillies’ improbable run to the World Series.
As Phillies Nation‘s Destiny Lugardo noted, the 52 home runs that Schwarber hit between the regular and postseason are the second most that a player has hit in a single-season in franchise history, trailing only Ryan Howard’s 2006 NL MVP season, when he homered 58 times.