Frank Schwindel

Frank Joseph Schwindel

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 215 lb.
• School St. John's University
• High School Livingston (NJ) High School
• Debut March 28, 2019

• Born June 29, 1992 in Livingston, NJ USA

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Biographical Information

Frank Schwindel was the Opening Day starter at first base for the Kansas City Royals when he made his major league debut on March 28, 2019. He went 0 for 4 in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox. In spite of his opening day assignment, he saw relatively action for the Royals, playing just 6 games and going 1 for 15. He was released in late may and signed by the Detroit Tigers but did not appear with them either that year or in 2020, when he was forced into inaction because the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the minor leagues.

After signing as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics in November of 2020, he returned to the majors on June 30, 2021, when he hit his first major league homer off Kolby Allard of the Texas Rangers. He went 3 for 20 in 8 games, then was placed on waivers and claimed by the Chicago Cubs on July 18th. He was called up on July 30th after the Cubs went through a fire sale at the trading deadline and began to play regularly. On August 11th, he struck out against Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers to lead off the 2nd inning, and after all his teammates in the batting order had struck out as well, made it ten in a row by striking out to lead off the 5th inning. That tied a major league record originally set by Tom Seaver in 1970 and tied less than two months earlier, on June 25th, by Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies. But in spite of that forgettable game, he took advantage of the available playing time to win the National League Rookie of the Month Award by hitting .344 with 6 doubles and 6 homers. So while he was not considered a prospect by anyone, being already 29, he was making the most of his first real opportunity to play in the Show. Showing this was no fluke, he repeated as Rookie of the Month in September/October, when he put up almost identical stats: .344 with 11 doubles and 7 homers, with 22 RBIs in 29 games. As a result, his totals for the season were quite impressive: a .326 average (.342 for the Cubs) in 64 games, 14 homers and 43 RBIs, all accomplished in only two months of work and a bit. His OPS+ for the year was an outstanding 155 and his OPS with Chicago was above 1.000. This production was of course completely unexpected, and the question was whether he could do something remotely similar over a full season.

He did not post such fabulous numbers in 2022 and indeed was struggling enough that on May 8th, the Cubs optioned him to AAA. He was hitting .209 with just 2 homers in 26 games at the time, but before he could play a single game with the Iowa Cubs, he was asked to return to the team as an injury changed the Cubs' plans. He improved a bit after his return, but was still not the doppelganger of Mike Trout he had been the year before. He was used a couple of times as a mystery pitcher during that stretch, and the second time, on June 12th, in an embarrassing 18-4 loss to the New York Yankees, he was "credited" with the slowest pitch ever measured by Statcast, a high lob that clocked in at 35.1 mph. It was then clubbed into the left field stands by Kyle Higashioka for a homer.

Related Sites

• Frank Schwindel on mlb.com