Fans thank Schwarber for memorable half-season in D.C.

Kyle Schwarber was meeting a friend of his on the Cubs coaching staff who was in town for the upcoming weekend series in D.C. at 10:30 p.m. on July 29 when his phone rang and Mike Rizzo's name showed up as the caller. He didn't need the Nationals general manager to tell him why he was calling, only to tell him the name of the team he had just been traded to.

Turns out it was the Red Sox, who were sending pitching prospect Aldo Ramirez to the Nats in exchange for the 28-year-old slugger. Schwarber had just become one of eight veterans Rizzo dealt away prior to the trade deadline, a massive sell-off for a franchise that had conceded it wasn't going to win anything in 2021 and would need a major overhaul to have a chance at winning again in the near future.

At that point, it was a mad scramble for Schwarber to get his stuff together and get to Tampa to meet his new club as it began a 10-game road trip. There wasn't time to see everyone he wanted to see before leaving for good.

Which made Friday night's return to Nationals Park, as a member of the visiting Red Sox, a welcome little bonus at the end of a very strange season.

"It's nice to be able to come back and say thanks and to see everyone and say thank you," Schwarber said in a group interview outside the Boston dugout before Friday's game. "I mean, I didn't get the chance to even say goodbye to the coaches or any of the players or anything like that. So it's nice to be able to come back - and especially the training staff for helping me with the injury and things like that - to be able to come back and thank them for all their work."

Fans at Nationals Park also appreciated the opportunity to thank Schwarber for his brief-but-eventful time with the club. Many stood and applauded for him when he came up to bat in the top of the first, a few minutes after a brief video montage was shown on the scoreboard to honor him.

"I think the fans are going to appreciate him tonight, and I'm sure they're going to be loud for him and give him a nice ovation," manager Davey Martinez predicted in his pregame Zoom session. "He deserves it. He played well for us while he was here."

Schwarber's time in D.C. may not have been long, but boy did his make the most of it. He hit 25 homers in 72 games, but 16 of those came in June alone, one of the greatest single months in baseball history.

He might have continued it for another month as well, but on July 1 Schwarber suffered a major hamstring strain running the bases. He would not be ready to play again until Aug. 13, two weeks after the trade. And he hasn't missed a beat since then.

In 39 games with Boston, Schwarber is batting .289 with seven homers, a .428 on-base percentage and a .951 OPS.

"Luckily, I was able to keep swinging (while injured), and that was kind of the biggest thing," he said. "And not being able to sneak in a rehab game, I just kind of got thrown back into it and I was completely fine with that. It started off well. It was fine. I felt good. Just having to work your body kind of back into the everyday grind again. But there were days that you feel a little sore and things like that just because you hadn't done it for five weeks. But it was good when I was able to come off. I feel pretty good now.

Schwarber was a popular man before Friday's game, greeting former teammates and coaches, interacting with fans, speaking with reporters. It perhaps felt like a lot for someone who didn't even spend a full season in D.C.

And yet Schwarber packed so much into his three healthy months with the Nationals, all the attention felt worthwhile.

"I definitely tried to make roots here," he said. "I wanted to get involved in the community. I wanted to try to help bring a championship here. I wanted to be myself, and that's me playing hard. And I think the fans (received) that pretty well. I have a lot of respect for the fans here, and the players and the organization."