Sibling Power: Schwarzes' Diamond Domination a Family Affair
Friday, March 13, 2015 | Baseball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The text pinged into JJ Schwarz's cell phone Monday afternoon.
When are you free? Can we hit this week? 
It seems the batting cages at the Pressly Stadium softball complex have co-ed capability and Taylor Schwarz, Florida's standout junior first baseman, wanted to get together with her little brother and take some cuts.
“He's definitely got some good mojo going,” Taylor said.
And that was even before JJ, a freshman catcher and designated hitter who has started every game for the UF baseball team, crushed his fourth home run of the season Tuesday, ripping it over the left-field fence at McKethan Stadium and into the O'Connell Center parking lot.
“How many home runs does she have so far?” JJ asked with a smile.
The answer is two this year, but 19 for her career; plus more than a hundred more starts than JJ and a very precious national championship ring.
“Maybe he'll catch me by his junior year,” Taylor said.
Yeah, maybe. In the interim, though, this incredible 1-2 orange-and-blue sibling punch is enjoying a rip-roaring start to a 2015 season. And things are about to go next level.
Taylor Schwarz and her reigning NCAA champion softball teammates not only are unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the nation, but Friday night the Gators (27-0) open a weekend home series against No. 3 LSU (25-0) -- the only other undefeated team in the country -- in UF's Southeastern Conference opening series. Across campus, the third-ranked baseball Gators (16-2) also will commence league play by welcoming Tennessee (7-6) to town.
Two teams, each a powerhouse, both with a star named Schwarz in the lineup.
“We can't tell you how blessed, proud and thankful we are,” said Jeff Schwarz, the Palm Beach Gardens-based patriarch of what has to be one of the Sunshine State's top diamond families. “Both Taylor and JJ always had an incredible work ethic. It's paying off for them.”
Dad gets a big assist on that.
Jeff Schwarz (far right), now assistant minor league pitching coordinator for the Florida Marlins, and wife Kara (second from left), raised a family that loved life at the ballpark. Also in picture (from left): daughter Grace, UF first baseman Taylor, UF catcher JJ, and youngest son Colton (front). That's the two future Gators below.
Jeff Schwarz was a 24th-round pick out of Fort Pierce West High in 1983. He kicked around the minors for a decade before debuting for the Chicago White Sox in 1993 in what turned out to be a brief time in the majors. He went 2-2 for his big league career before playing some professionally in Japan. Along the way came wife, Kara, a swimmer at Ohio University.
Then came a couple kids.
By the time Taylor and JJ gravitated toward their dad's sport, he was well into his minor-league coaching career -- Jeff Schwarz is now the assistant minor league pitching coordinator for the Florida Marlins -- and their paths were set.
As in the base paths.
“I have a picture in my room where I'm sitting on a pitcher's mound and I'm probably 2 or 3 years old,” JJ said. “My dad is like five feet away from me ... sort of like's he's catching bullpen.”
Speaking of pictures, it's not hard to frame a vision of the Schwarzes at a South Florida ball field hitting, fielding, shagging. That was their routine and they loved it.
Even on holidays.
Said Taylor: “My dad would say, 'C'mon, no one else will be out there today. We'll go get better while everyone else is at home.”
Taylor, while taking BP at a Little League diamond, once smacked a homer over the fence and into a car driving through a parking lot. By the time JJ was 10, the homers he was hitting were so gargantuan, he was known locally as “The Freak.”
Naturals?
“Yeah,” Jeff said. “Pretty much.”
At Palm Beach Gardens High, Taylor helped lead her team -- the Gators, by the way -- to back-to-back state championships and had her pick of the top collegiate programs in the South. JJ became one of the most sought-after catchers in the country, eventually selected for the 2013 USA U18 National Team that won the World Championship in Taiwan. He was drafted in the 17th round by Milwaukee but opted for school.
When they arrived on UF's campus, they not only were really good at playing the game, but at living it, also.
“Ultimately, when you come from a family with that kind of background, the ups and downs that the game can throw at you, you're used to them already,” Gators softball coach Tim Walton said. “Whether you take them as they come or you work through them, being from a baseball family can help from a lot of different angles, a lot of different directions.” 
Here's how it's helped these particular two:
* Through her freshman and sophomore seasons, Taylor batted .275, with 78 RBI, 24 extra-base hits and had a career fielding percentage of .994. She had a bases-clearing double in the Women's College World Series against Baylor last year, a win that put the Gators in the finals against Alabama, which UF swept. Thus far in her junior year, she's hitting .348 and is fifth with 19 runs scored on a team that is absolutely smashing the ball.
* In his rookie season, the 6-foot-1, 205 pound JJ has platooned at catcher and DH with fellow freshman Mike Rivera, with the two alternating games behind the plate. Schwarz is hitting .355, is second on the team with 19 RBI and slugging at a .661 clip. His four homers ranks second on the team and is tied for third-most in the country among freshmen.
“She used to get all the love, but I'm starting to get a little more now,” JJ said. “Maybe I'm catching up.”
Again, he smiled.
In reality, there is no rivalry between the two. Just a lot of love and respect. That's the way it was when the two would go and cheer each other on at their prep and travel team games until their schedules -- baseball and softball, year-round -- basically conflicted on a regular basis. It certainly made for some hectic times for mom and dad also, with the two splitting up and providing one another cell phone updates.
True story: Earlier this year, the Schwarzes came to Gainesville for a weekend when both the softball and baseball teams were playing scrimmages on campus. Jeff borrowed Taylor's scooter to zip back and forth from the fields.
“It's a family affair for us,” said Kara, whose clan also includes Grace, a 14-year-old high school freshman and lacrosse player, plus 8-year-old Colton, who's seemingly always in uniform and sleeps with a baseball. “We all support each other and encourage each other.”
As for Taylor and JJ, they don't often get to see each other's Gators games, but when on opposite fields or in different cities -- and when possible -- they follow social media to see how the other is doing. Sometimes they'll run into each other on campus or JJ will bring a friend to Taylor's apartment when she cooks them dinner.
They also text.
“I'll definitely get him over here to hit,” Taylor said.
Both Schwarzes, it seems, have that mojo going.
