The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Swanson confident he’s over July heel injury
Closer Melancon says MLB has juiced balls intentionally.
DENVER — With Dansby Swanson’s return to the Braves’ lineup on Monday at Coors Field after missing more than a month, the shortstop is confident his heel injury is completely behind him.
“Being able to go down to (Single-A) Rome and get the confidence back of moving around was the biggest key for me,” Swanson said. “I can trust moving laterally, running, and all the other actions that are involved in a baseball game.”
Swanson started at shortstop and batted sixth against the Rockies in the makeup of a game postponed in April.
The 25-year old was injured July 23 against the Royals, when he scraped his heel on a base. The team initially underestimated the severity of the injury, officially labeled a right foot contusion, and he aggravated it during running drills a few weeks later.
Swanson — batting .265 with a career-high 17 homers heading into Monday — said he watched a lot of video while injured and kept up with the big-league club during his three rehab games with Rome.
“Once we figured out it was a little more serious than we thought, I had one choice, and that was to be the best teammate I can be,” Swanson said. “Whether I was on the road trips or not, I was doing all I could to take care of myself and be there for my teammates, too.”
While Swanson was shelved, Atlanta turned to Johan Camargo, Adeiny Hechavarria and Charlie Culberson at shortstop. Hechavarria was signed Aug. 16 and the club opted to retain him even with Swanson’s return, sending outfielder Adam Duvall back to Triple-A Gwinnett in a corresponding move.
Melancon “100 percent” baseballs are juiced: In the few weeks since being named Atlanta’s newest closer following his trade from San Francisco, Mark Melancon has quickly settled into the role while converting his first five save opportunities. But as he anchors the bullpen’s back end on a team with deep postseason expectations, Melancon — like other vocal veteran pitchers around the game this year — is aware of the effect a more aerodynamic ball is having.
Melancon said 2019’s homer-happy baseball — which has both the majors and Triple-A on a historic home run pace — has changed the way he approaches closing in certain parks such as Coors Field, where the Braves took on the Rockies on Monday in a stadium playing to pre-humidor scoring levels. The 34-year-old Colorado native with 188 career saves said he “100 percent” believes Major League Baseball intentionally “juiced” the baseball. The league has owned Rawlings, the company that makes the baseballs, since last summer.
“The ball just doesn’t switch like that in an offseason,” Melancon said. “Records are being broken left and right, and it’s kind of ridiculous.”
Even with fly balls turning into round-trippers at an alarming rate around the league, Melancon said he still relishes the pressure of closing in the year of the “juiced” ball — even as he concurrently believes the game’s top brass have some serious offseason thinking to do.
“Major League Baseball has some things to think about because I don’t think the game is as exciting anymore, the way they’ve juiced these balls,” Melancon said. “I think their thoughts were that home runs were going to be a good thing, but when (about) 60 percent of the runs are scored via home run, there’s no action on the bases or in the field. It’s a strikeout or a home run, and it’s kind of become a boring game for fans.”