Swanson’s progress slow, but steady

He still has a good way to go just to raise his average (.174) to the Mendoza Line, but Dansby Swanson has shown some encouraging signs recently since the Braves’ high-profile rookie adjusted his batting stance and worked on a more consistent approach.

Swanson, who was 1-for-3 Sunday, had a two-out, two-strike RBI single Saturday night that drove in the Braves’ second run in a 3-1 win against the Marlins. He had collected a single and walk in each of the previous three games.

“It was a big two-strike at-bat for an RBI, a tough pitch on a hit-and-run,” manager Brian Snitker said. “It was a great at-bat by him. He’s getting there.”

Entering Sunday, Swanson had the seventh-lowest average (.169) among major league qualifiers and a .479 OPS that was the fifth-lowest. But he had raised both numbers significantly in the past few weeks, since his numbers cratered to a .125 average and .341 OPS on April 21.

He has reached base in 16 of 17 games since then, totaling 13 hits and 11 walks.

“I think the biggest thing is just consistently good at-bats now,” Swanson said. “I feel real clear on what I’m trying to do at the plate and trying to execute as best as I can. You can’t control it after you hit it. You hit it and you can’t control what happens after that.”

In the first weeks of the season, he had one of the highest line-drive rates on the team but a paltry batting average on balls in play, two signs of a player not getting many breaks to go his way.

“Definitely nice to see Dansby do that,” Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said of the rookie shortstop’s key hit on Saturday. “He’s done an amazing job just with his confidence throughout this season (that’s been) full of remarkable bad luck. It’s impressive, just the professionalism and the maturity he’s shown throughout this season. So it’s nice to see him rewarded with something in the big situation.”

Swanson had another tough-luck at-bat in his first time up Sunday, a line drive to left field in the second inning that Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna ran down with a shoestring catch.

In his last nine games before Sunday, Swanson was 7-for-28 (.250) with four RBIs and eight walks. Not scintillating, but certainly a lot better than the first 15 games of the season.

“He’s going to hang in there and keep grinding and keep playing,” Snitker said. “He’s going to get better. For everything he’s been going through, it’s going to do nothing but make him better.”