‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Kevin Long on how it would be ‘devastating’ if Kyle Schwarber leaves, and more
Long talked with The Inquirer's baseball podcast to discuss Bryce Harper's less-than-elite season, Schwarber's free agency, and other topics.
Last week, the Phillies convened their annual organizational meetings at Citizens Bank Park. Team officials regrouped from another disappointing postseason and began planning for next season.
Among the attendees: hitting coach Kevin Long.
Before leaving town, Long sat down with Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to share some thoughts about Bryce Harper’s less-than-elite season, Kyle Schwarber’s free agency, and second-half adjustments that helped Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh. He also discussed Trea Turner’s 2025 success.
Here’s an excerpt from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: What did you make of Harper’s season overall, and did you see anything different? And what did you leave him with when you sent him off into the offseason?
A: You look at Bryce’s year, and he started off with the [right wrist] injury and kind of was playing through whatever difficulties he was feeling. And then he got a little PRP [platelet-rich plasma] injection. He got it taken care of and came back, and I thought swung the bat really well. It’s a short season for him, because he didn’t get all his at-bats. So if he plays another month, what are those numbers looking like? He ended up with 27 homers. Drove in 75. Does that end up being 35 and 98? I don’t know. So, we’re really talking about minor things.
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What could he have done better? He saw the least amount of strikes in baseball. And he probably ended up swinging too much and probably needed to control the strike zone a little bit better than he did. But other than that, I was pleased with Bryce’s year, what he did, how he performed. If you look at everybody’s numbers and what they did, Bryce was a big part of our offense, which was a top-five offense, and performed very well during the season, and actually in the playoffs did a stand-up job as well.
So, if you look at different years and what he’s done, yeah, these numbers are probably a little bit down. But I’m not worried about Bryce. I think Bryce is a very talented player, a really, really good hitter. He’s a middle-of-the-order guy, he’s an impact guy. He’s a superstar in this league, and I’m glad he’s on our team.
Q: You know Schwarber as well as anyone. What is your level of confidence that he remains with the Phillies?
A: I think it’s very high. I mean, when you have the owner who wants him, you have Dave Dombrowski who wants him, you have the coaching staff, you have Rob Thomson, you have a fan base. I mean, there’s really everybody involved here wants [him] to be back, including Kyle.
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So, what does it come down to? What’s his market value, and are we willing to give him his market value? And I think the answer is yes to that. And when you put all that into the equation, I think there’s a strong chance that Kyle comes back. I think it would be devastating to this organization and this fan base and everybody involved if he wasn’t a Phillie. So we’ll see where it ends up, but I feel very confident that he’ll be back.
Q: How gratifying is it for you as a hitting coach to see Trea Turner, who’s been a star in this league for several years, take it to heart that he can be better and then really do everything that you ask him to do in terms of making adjustments at the plate?
A: Well, there comes a point in time where you look at where you are and what you need to do to become the player that you know you are, and Trea put in the work. He put in the time, he put in the effort. And it’s a proud feeling for me and him, knowing that he set out to do something, and [he] not only did it, but [he] did it at the highest level. He was set to have 200 hits [before he injured his ankle in September]. He led the league in hitting. He was set to have 100 runs. It’s hard to look at his year and be disappointed with anything. He was a tremendous part of getting our offense going. It was just fun to watch.
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And I will say this: Trea lost his mother last year, and I wish she could have seen what her son did. And I know that he’s very proud, and we talk about her and kind of her impact on his career. But I think going through that and then putting together the year he had, it’s very proud and satisfying moment for him.
And I know his mom’s looking down from a nice little place in heaven and saying, ‘Way to go, son.’ So pretty cool. I’m getting a little emotional thinking about it, because I know Donna pretty well. But seeing how he responded to that makes me proud as well.