Cubs Promote Kyle Schwarber for Interleague Stretch

By Peyton Wesner

In part two of the classic trilogy Back to the Future, main character Marty McFly is surprised to find that the Chicago Cubs win the 2015 World Series. Obviously, the movie is fiction, but don't tell Chicago Cubs' President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein or General Manager Jed Hoyer as the organization has made yet another move involving a top prospect with the promotion of slugger Kyle Schwarber from Double-A to the Major Leagues.

Schwarber, who was the fourth overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft from Indiana University, has started right where he left off last season while playing in the lower levels of the organization (.344 batting average, eighteen home runs, and fifty-three RBIs) by smashing thirteen long bombs and collecting thirty-nine RBIs with a .320 batting average in fifty-eight games with the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League this season. The third best catching prospect and forty-second top prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com, will join the young stars of Kris Bryant and Addison Russell as highly touted prospects to make their Major League debut in 2015 for the Cubs.

While the thrill of playing in the Big Leagues will be present for the twenty-two year old, Theo Epstein has made it quite clear that Schwarber is simply with the Cubs to serve as the designated hitter in six Interleague games against the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins, meaning he will be optioned to Triple-A Iowa after Sunday's game to further "continue his development as a catcher." Nonetheless, if Schwarber can perform in his Majors like he did in Double-A, he may not be catching his flight to Des Moines Sunday night.