Indiana Professional Athletes

Schwarber in the Spotlight

Kyle Schwarber is doing what he does best in September — making noise when it matters most.

The Indiana DH made a piece of MLB history during Philadelphia's series against the Washington Nationals this week, adding another chapter to what has been another sensational season for the Bloomington product. The Phillies announced a separate honor for Schwarber ahead of that Nationals series as well, underscoring his standing as one of the game's premier power threats entering the final stretch of the regular season.

Philadelphia sits at 83-68 — comfortable in most divisions, but tighter in the NL's postseason picture. The Phillies dropped four of their last five games heading into the week, and Schwarber addressed it plainly: a warning to opponents that October is the destination, not a question mark. "This is going to be a fun finish," one Phillies notebook noted — and Schwarber figures to be at the center of it.

His stat line from the period tells a familiar story: a homer and two RBI in Sunday's 9-4 win over Atlanta, where he helped fuel a massive seventh-inning rally with teammate Alec Bohm. He drew walks in four of his next five games against Washington and New York, running his batting average at .235–.239 through the week. The power is real; the plate discipline remains elite. Schwarber also took time to highlight a teammate's approach at the plate — a detail that speaks to his clubhouse standing as much as his production.

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Tanner Gordon Continues to Struggle

It was a rough September Thursday in San Diego for fellow Hoosier Tanner Gordon. The Colorado Rockies right-hander lasted just three innings against the Padres, surrendering seven earned runs and striking out three in a 9-2 loss. His ERA ballooned to 6.01 on the outing — a continuation of a troubling trend that Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer has had to address publicly. Colorado is out of postseason contention, but Gordon's inability to find consistent footing late in the season makes for an uncertain offseason outlook.

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Yoho and Herrin Hold Down Cleveland's Bullpen

Two Hoosiers are contributing out of the Guardians' bullpen as Cleveland remains in the thick of the AL playoff race. Tim Herrin has been the steadier of the two — working a clean inning with two strikeouts against the White Sox on Tuesday, and following it with another scoreless frame Saturday against Oakland (ERA: 2.98). Herrin has been quietly effective across multiple appearances this week, the kind of low-profile reliability a contender needs in September.

Craig Yoho had a rougher Tuesday in Chicago, allowing three earned runs in just a third of an inning in a game Cleveland ultimately won 7-6. A Sports Illustrated piece framed the Brewers-Guardians trade that brought Yoho to Cleveland as increasingly lopsided — though which direction that cut depends on how he finishes the year.

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The Bigger Picture

Indiana's MLB footprint this week runs from a Phillies postseason push to a rebuilding Rockies rotation to Cleveland's bullpen depth. Schwarber remains the marquee name, and for good reason — he's chasing history, making history, and leading the charge into October for one of the NL's most dangerous teams. Not bad for Bloomington.

Kyle Schwarber has spent a career doing things nobody thought possible for a catcher-turned-outfielder-turned-designated hitter. This week, the Indiana alumnus did it again — and again, and again.

Over the Sept. 6–12 stretch, Schwarber was the most historically significant hitter in baseball. He broke Ryan Howard's franchise record for most home runs over a five-year span as a Phillie, surpassing the mark with his 230th homer in a 1-0 win over the Atlanta Braves on Labor Day Monday — a solo shot in the eighth inning that was also the game's only run. In the same week, he tied Ted Williams for an all-time MLB record, a pairing that puts into sharp relief just how rarefied his company has become.

Then came the exclamation point: a sixth-inning grand slam against the Houston Astros that served as the decisive blow in an 11-7 Philadelphia win. Schwarber's reaction was characteristically understated. "That's a good question; I don't know," he told 94 WIP's Dave Uram about the one-handed swing that sent it over the fence. "It just happened to go out."

Things just keep happening to go out for Schwarber. With the Phillies sitting at 81-64 and firmly atop the National League wild-card picture heading into the postseason, his production carries both immediate and legacy weight. The Hall of Fame conversation — once treated as a curiosity for a player with a career batting average in the .230s — is no longer a fringe take. The power numbers, the postseason pedigree, and the sustained excellence are forcing even skeptics to engage seriously with his Cooperstown case.

Schwarber hit home runs in multiple games during the period, finishing the week with a .236 average on the season — a number that will remain the primary counterargument to his candidacy, but one that has less leverage every time he does something Ted Williams also did.

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Other Hoosiers Around the League

Tanner Gordon (Rockies) made two starts during the period with mixed results. He allowed five earned runs in 4.2 innings against the Cardinals on Sept. 6, then gave up four earned in 4.0 frames against Detroit on Sept. 12, finishing the week with his ERA ticking up to 5.55. Colorado's season-long struggles (55-91) haven't provided much of a runway for the Indiana righty to build momentum.

In the Cleveland bullpen, Craig Yoho and Tim Herrin continued to log reliable innings for the Guardians. Yoho appeared three times during the stretch, striking out two in 1.1 innings against Minnesota on Sept. 12 and holding a 3.86 ERA. Herrin was similarly steady, working 1.1 innings against Baltimore on Sept. 8 and posting a 2.96 ERA — the kind of quiet, high-leverage work that keeps contenders in games.

Kyle Hart (Padres) pitched in back-to-back games against the Nationals, throwing 3.1 combined innings across the two appearances with a 3.96 ERA.

The week belonged to Schwarber, though — as so many Phillies weeks have this season. With the postseason looming and history piling up, the Bloomington product is making the strongest case of his career for a plaque in Cooperstown.

Kyle Schwarber, IU's Biggest Bat, Arrives Right on Time

When the Philadelphia Phillies needed their most dangerous hitter to step up in a defining moment, Kyle Schwarber — Indiana's most prominent MLB alumnus — answered the call.

In the series opener against first-place Atlanta on Saturday, September 5, Schwarber went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, two runs scored, and two walks. It was the kind of line that shifts pennant races, and it came at exactly the right juncture: Philadelphia chasing the Braves for the NL East crown with fewer than four weeks left in the regular season.

The homer punctuated what has been a genuinely hot stretch for the 33-year-old designated hitter. Prior to the Braves series, Schwarber was a key figure in Philadelphia's surge against the Los Angeles Angels, delivering a go-ahead RBI double in the 10th inning of a 4-2 win on August 29 that extended the Angels' losing streak to six games. He also drove in a run in the Phillies' 7-1 dismantling of the Arizona Diamondbacks on September 2 — part of a two-of-three series win in Phoenix that kept Philadelphia's momentum intact heading into the marquee Atlanta matchup.

Schwarber's batting average sits at .240 on the season, but the counting stats and clutch contributions tell a more complete story. With the Phillies in legitimate postseason contention, the Indiana product is producing when it matters most.

IU Arms Making Noise in Cleveland

While Schwarber commands the spotlight, a pair of Indiana pitchers are contributing to a Cleveland Guardians bullpen with its own October aspirations.

Craig Yoho logged back-to-back appearances on September 3 and 4, combining for 2.1 innings and three strikeouts. His ERA stands at 4.28 — not dominant, but serviceable in high-leverage spots for a team in the AL Central hunt. Tim Herrin has been sharper: the left-hander worked a scoreless inning on August 30 against Kansas City and followed it up with another clean frame against the Blue Jays on September 3, holding his ERA at a tidy 3.08. Two Hoosiers, one bullpen, and a team with pennant-race stakes — not a bad place to be in September.

Tanner Gordon Battles in Colorado

Not all Indiana alumni are in playoff contention. Out in the thin air of Coors Field, Rockies right-hander Tanner Gordon put together one of his better outings of the season on September 1, tossing five innings and allowing just one earned run against the Baltimore Orioles. His ERA dropped to 5.18 — still a tough number, but a promising sign for a young arm developing in baseball's most unforgiving pitching environment.

Kyle Hart has also seen work out of the San Diego Padres' bullpen, making back-to-back appearances against Cincinnati on August 31 and September 2, striking out four in 2.2 total innings while carrying a 3.88 ERA.

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Between Schwarber's timely power, a pair of Hoosier relievers fortifying a contender's bullpen, and young starters logging innings, Indiana's fingerprints are across the MLB landscape this September. The most consequential chapter, though, is being written in South Philly — one at-bat at a time.

Kyle Schwarber had one of the great individual weeks any Indiana alum has ever put together in a major league uniform — and it wasn't particularly close.

The Phillies' designated hitter became the first player in the majors this season to reach 40 home runs, launching a three-run bomb off Seattle's Bryan Woo in a 6-0 Philadelphia win Wednesday. The milestone also tied a Phillies franchise record for the most 40-plus home run seasons — putting Schwarber alongside the legendary Ryan Howard in that exclusive club. For a program that has churned out professional talent for decades, it's the kind of landmark that belongs on a banner.

Then things got even better.

The Walk-Off That Made No Sense

Later in the week, Schwarber authored what may be his signature moment of the season. With the Phillies trailing the Cardinals by four runs with two outs in the ninth inning — a situation that, by any rational baseball math, was over — Philadelphia staged a stunning comeback and put the bat back in Schwarber's hands. He responded with a 459-foot missile for a walk-off two-run homer, capping a comeback the Sporting News described as one that "made no sense." It extended Philadelphia's win streak to nine games and marked the Phillies' first walk-off homer in three years.

Schwarber finished the week hitting .245 with multiple multi-hit games, adding another two-hit performance against the Angels on Saturday. He leads all of MLB in home runs and has positioned himself as a legitimate MVP conversation piece in the National League. For Indiana, he's simply the loudest argument for what Bloomington produces.

Gordon Quietly Dominates in Denver

While Schwarber grabbed headlines, Rockies right-hander Tanner Gordon turned in the week's most quietly impressive performance among Hoosier alumni. Gordon went seven innings against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, surrendering just one run while striking out five in a blowout Colorado win. His ERA sits at 5.38 on the season, but a seven-inning, one-run start is the kind of line that earns a pitcher another turn in the rotation regardless of what the numbers say going in.

Cleveland's Hoosier Bullpen Duo

Two Indiana alumni are sharing a bullpen in Cleveland, and both contributed during the week. Craig Yoho logged a combined 4.1 innings across two appearances — including a two-inning, three-strikeout outing against Kansas City on Friday — though he allowed two earned runs and his ERA ticked up to 4.60. Tim Herrin was steadier, posting 2.1 scoreless innings across two appearances with two strikeouts, bringing his ERA down to 3.21. Both continue to carve out reliable roles for a Guardians club still in the thick of the AL Central race.

Kyle Hart also made three appearances out of the San Diego bullpen, working three clean innings total while keeping his ERA in the low 4.00s.

The week belonged to Schwarber — it almost always does lately — but Indiana's MLB footprint extends well beyond Citizens Bank Park. Six Hoosiers logged game action between August 23 and 29, and the flagship name just keeps adding to his legacy.