Kyle Schwarber

In the 2012 college offseason, Schwarber played for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). After winning the league championship with the Gatemen, Schwarber was awarded the playoff's most valuable player award. In June of 2019, it was announced that he would join the CCBL Hall of Fame class of 2019.

As a freshman at Indiana University, Schwarber was named a freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper after hitting .300/.390/.513 with eight home runs and 47 runs batted in. As a sophomore in 2013, he hit .366/.456/.647 with 18 home runs and 54 RBI in 61 games. He was named a first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) After the season, Schwarber played for the United States collegiate national team during the summer. As a junior, he batted .348/.456/.643 with 13 home runs. He was a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award. He majored in recreational sports management.

Schwarber was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first round, fourth overall, in the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He signed on June 11. Upon being drafted, MLB.com analyst Bernie Pleskoff profiled Schwarber as a "game-changing" power-hitter. However, Pleskoff was critical of his base-running and fielding skills, commenting "Schwarber is sluggish on the bases and slow defensively". ESPN's Keith Law echoed a similar sentiment in his draft profile, noting "Schwarber might have the most raw power of any prospect in the class." Two pre-draft scouting reports by the MLB Scouting Bureau compared Schwarber's swinging mechanics to those of Jeff Bagwell, while also projecting him to play a role similar to Matt Stairs.

Schwarber began the 2015 season with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League. In July 2015, he played in the All-Star Futures Game, where he was named the MVP of the game after hitting a go-ahead two-run triple for Team USA.

The Cubs promoted Schwarber to the major leagues on June 16, 2015, to serve as a designated hitter for six games during interleague play. Schwarber made his major league debut as a position player that night, replacing ejected starting catcher Miguel Montero in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Indians. The following night, as a designated hitter, he got four hits in five at bats with two RBIs and six total bases. The Cubs sent Schwarber to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs of the Pacific Coast League after the six games. On July 16, 2015, Schwarber was recalled from Triple A Iowa, to rejoin the Cubs due to an injury to catcher Montero. On July 21, in a 5–4 extra-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds, Schwarber hit a game-tying 2-run homer in the ninth inning and a solo go-ahead home run in the top of the 13th to give the Cubs the lead. Schwarber's three multihomer games are the most for a Cub rookie in his first 51 games played since 1914. Over the course of the season he split time between catcher and outfield positions. He finished the 2015 regular season having played 69 games, recording a .246 batting average with 16 home runs, 52 runs scored, and 43 RBIs in just 273 plate appearances. In the National League Wild Card Game, Schwarber drove in three runs and hit a long two-run home run to help the Cubs defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4–0, and advance to the Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. In the NLDS, Schwarber helped the Cubs to a 3-1 series victory with 2 home runs, including a mammoth game 4 shot that landed on top of the new Wrigley Field scoreboard in right field. The ball was removed during the 2015-16 off season to prevent theft but was encased in Plexiglas and returned "to where it landed". In his eighth career postseason game, a 5-2 loss to the New York Mets in game 3 of the 2015 National League Championship Series (NLCS), Schwarber set a Cubs record with his fifth career postseason home run and also the record for the most home runs in a single postseason by a player age 22 or younger, passing Miguel Cabrera.

Schwarber only played two games before he was involved in an outfield collision with teammate Dexter Fowler on April 7, 2016, and was removed from the game with a left leg injury. Schwarber tore the anterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament in his left knee, and would miss the rest of the 2016 season. Despite being injured, there were many trade rumors surrounding Schwarber during the season, especially regarding the Cubs desire for a premium reliever. Club president Theo Epstein addressed Schwarber's situation by saying it "wouldn't be right to trade him". The Cubs eventually acquired closer Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees without having to give up Schwarber. As the Cubs advanced further into the postseason, an unexpectedly fast recovery made the return of Schwarber increasingly more of a possibility. Schwarber participated in a successful on-field workout with the team at Dodger Stadium before Game 3 of the 2016 NLCS. On October 22, Schwarber went to the Arizona Fall League to play with the Mesa Solar Sox, the same day the Cubs played in Game 6 of the NLCS.

In 2019, he batted .250/.339/.531 with 38 home runs and 92 RBIs. He was thrown the highest percentage of curveballs of all major league batters (14.7%). In 2019, on defense he led all National League left fielders in errors, with 6, and had the lowest fielding percentage of all major league left fielders (.974).

In 2020, he batted .188/.308/.393, and had the lowest batting average of all qualified NL batters.