Levine: Kyle Schwarber Gets The Call To Wrigley

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It seems like the Cubs bring a quality minor league player to the big leagues every month. First, it was Kris Bryant in April, followed by Addison Russell not long after that. On Tuesday, it was Kyle Schwarber getting the call-up for a unique six-game stint with Chicago.

The team's first-round pick in the 2014 amateur draft, Schwarber was dominating the Southern League. He had a lofty 1.017 OPS and a .320 batting average at Double-A Tennessee in 58 games. His experience in 2015 has been as a catcher and designated hitter. After Tuesday's home game at Wrigley Field, the Cubs will use Schwarber as their DH as they play their next five games in American League parks -- two games in Cleveland and three in Minnesota this weekend.

Schwarber will then head to Triple-A Iowa.

"They told me the plan right now is to stay up here and contribute for six days," said Schwarber, a 22-year-old signed out of Indiana University. "I am then going to Iowa. I think it will be all catching for me there."

The one element that's a common thread among the minor leaguers promoted by the Cubs is player make-up. They all seem to be off the charts in their work ethic and have a commonality for playing team baseball.

"We have a lot of good players," Bryant said when asked about the quality and quantity of players advancing through the Cubs system. "Kyle has done a great job this year. I have been following along with him. It is not just him. We have a lot of guys in the system doing well. I am excited to see more of them up here. It's pretty cool to see the young guys come up and play in the big leagues."

The plan to use Schwarber for this unique sample size of major league time was formulated by the team's front office and manager Joe Maddon.

"We have been talking about it for a few weeks now," team president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said. "We were talking about how it may make sense to use him in interleague. We had some player development meetings a couple weeks before the draft. We had an organizational consensus that he probably only needed a couple more weeks at Double-A. He has been pitched around quite bit down there.

"His bat has been proven at that level. He has been catching very well. We are very much committed to maintaining his development as a catcher. This made sense to get him five straight games in an American League ballpark. We think it's a perfect pit stop for him on the way to Triple-A."

Schwarber's confident he's ready for the big league challenge. Bryant probably had the best advice for his teammate.

"This is really the same game you have been playing your whole life," Bryant said. "It is a little different up here, more people in the stands. The pitchers' stuff is a little sharper, a little faster. You just have to take the attitude that it's the same game you have been playing your whole life."

The Cubs have a commitment to catcher Miguel Montero through 2017. They also have one more year to go on a contract of backup catcher David Ross. All of that indicates that Schwarber will likely get time in the outfield at some point. That would make him a more functional option for Maddon.

"We may reach a point that he has caught enough near the end of the year," Epstein said. "We then can maybe mix in some other responsibilities for him. Maybe he is a factor for September up here. Right now the priority is for him to continue to develop as a catcher."

Schwarber didn't start Tuesday in a 6-0 loss to the Indians. Instead, he came off the bench as a pinch-hitter and struck out in his debut.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.