The Chicago Cubs knew they had found a diamond in the rough when they drafted Kyle Schwarber in the 2015 MLB Draft, but the player that they compared him to is absolutely mind-blowing.
Team scout Stan Zielinski was the man who discovered Schwarber when he was a catcher at Indiana University, and the report that he filed about the slugger is an absolute must-read for Cubs fans.
Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago published an excerpt from the report, and it’s incredible:
“I believed today,” Stan Zielinski wrote in a report filed on May 4, 2014, teasing the Cubs with the video he shot on a handheld camera during an Indiana-Purdue game. “I will send clip. To preview, squint your eyes and imagine a grainy film of Babe Ruth hitting a ball in the stands at Yankee Stadium. I swear I saw that reenacted today as the ball flew out over the 2nd fence in RF.”
Zielinski wasn’t a guy who threw around praise lightly, as he’d been a scout for nearly 40 years for a variety of baseball teams. Zielinski unfortunately passed away earlier this year, but Schwarber still recounts fond memories of the scout that helped bring him to Chicago.
“I don’t think that (Stan) got caught up in that new age of scouting with the spin rate and launch angle and hard-hit stuff,” Schwarber said. “(It’s) knowing that guy is going to go out there every day and give it 110 percent. That’s why he was unique….That’s why I loved him.”
Schwarber has played less than 100 regular season games, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t begun living up to the huge expectations laid upon him. In 14 postseason games, Schwarber has already blasted five home runs and posted a batting average of .364, and he made a miraculous comeback during the 2016 World Series, returning from a torn ACL to bat .412 with two RBI and seven total hits as the Cubs won the championship.
