A Schwarber return looks possible

Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein called it "a pleasant surprise."

It would be that and more if it panned out.

Epstein and the Cubs said Saturday that catcher-outfielder Kyle Schwarber was going to the Arizona Fall League to play in games as he recovers from major knee surgery he underwent in April. Schwarber injured his left knee April 7 in an outfield collision with center fielder Dexter Fowler in a game at Arizona.

Schwarber visited his surgeon, Dr. Daniel Cooper, in Dallas this past Monday and got extraordinarily good news. Cooper cleared Schwarber for hitting and running, but no fielding.

That gave the Cubs hope Schwarber could be able to DH at Cleveland should they make the World Series. Schwarber was scheduled to be the DH Saturday for the Mesa Solar Sox.

Last year, the left-handed hitting Schwarber hit 5 home runs in the postseason as a rookie.

"Kyle immediately called me from Dallas," Epstein said. "I wasn't expecting the call. He told me he had been cleared and asked for a chance to do this. With as hard as Kyle has worked and as much as this means to him and potentially us, we wanted to give him that opportunity after consulting our medical guys.

"Kyle flew from Dallas to L.A. Monday afternoon and a few of the guys stayed late and met him at the ballpark. He hit in the cage for the first time Monday night in L.A. and then he hit again in L.A. Tuesday, batting practice. Wednesday was a recovery day and a travel day for him. He went down to Mesa and tracked a bunch of balls. On Thursday he took BP on the field in Mesa and tracked 400-500 balls off the pitching machine. (Friday) he took batting practice and live batting practice."

Epstein made his comments before Saturday night's sixth game of the National League championship series, and he wanted to make sure he wasn't coming off as assuming anything about the World Series.

"We'll see where this goes," he said. "We're not ruling anything in. We're not ruling anything out. We're not getting ahead of ourselves. We have a lot of work to do here before this becomes pertinent."

The 23-year-old Schwarber was the Cubs' first-round draft pick in 2014, and he made it to the major leagues last season.

Determination has been his strongest suit. Although some have doubted his skills as a catcher, Schwarber continued to work on it until he got hurt. That same determination seems to be paying off now.

"He's so passionate about baseball and his teammates and an incredibly hard worker and humble," Epstein said. "He's just been behind the scenes working his tail off and managing to stay part of the team. Physically, he's on an accelerated time table. From a baseball standpoint, he's only got about a week or so to get ready, but mentally he's been preparing for this for six months. Mentally he's been preparing for this a long time and he's itching to contribute."

Epstein said the Cubs will evaluate Schwarber from medical and baseball standpoints before making any decisions. Schwarber's left-handed bat would be welcome in the Cubs lineup at any point.

About the only problem Schwarber has had, according to Epstein, were blisters on his hands because of how many swings he has taken.

"He's a pretty special person and special hitter," Epstein said. "I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but if it does get to a point where we think he can help us, it says a lot about his talent and his work ethic."

Back to the drawing board:

Right fielder Jason Heyward was not in Saturday's Game 6 lineup against Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw. Rookie Albert Almora Jr. started in right.

Hewyard, who signed an eight-year, $184 million contract with the Cubs last winter, batted .230 with 7 homers during the regular season. He entered Saturday 2-for-28 in the postseason.

"Kershaw's pretty good," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon. "You look at his numbers. He's been absurd against lefties also. Get another right-handed bat out there. The way Albert can play defense really makes it a little bit easier."

The Cubs may try to rebuild Heyward's swing this off-season.

"I'm sure there's going to be a lot of internal work done in the off-season with him, no question," Maddon said. "You know he's not satisfied with the year. But he keeps going out there, and again, he's a big part of our 100-plus wins this year. It is something he has to work on. He will work on it. But by no means has anybody given up on him. He just needs probably to clear his mind a little bit when this is all said and done and get back to the drawing board."