The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hot shortstop has one gear: ‘Keep on keepin’ on’
When reflecting on his ability to overcome slumps throughout his career, Dansby Swanson pointed to something his father, Cooter Swanson, always tells him.
“Keep on keepin’ on,” Cooter says.
And so, that’s what Dansby does. And he’s done it over and over and over again during his career.
“It’s just how I was raised,” Dansby said after the Braves’ win over the Phillies on Wednesday.
To Braves fans, Swanson is known as a streaky hitter. He might go through rough patches. But when he’s hot? Watch out.
And right now, he’s on fire. Asked what allows Swanson to remain calm during slumps and allows himself to escape them, Braves manager Brian Snitker said: “The mental toughness that he has and the confidence he has in his abilities.”
When discussing Swanson with reporters, Snitker often praises these traits. Swanson, he has said frequently, doesn’t change when he struggles at the plate. It doesn’t impact his defense or his base running. He works the same.
It took only a month and change for Swanson to execute one of his classic turnarounds, the kind that have (at least in part) come to
define his career. He can go from ice cold to blazing hot in a matter of weeks.
Through the season’s first 14 games, he went 7-for-49
with a .432 OPS and 22 strikeouts.
Since then, he has hit .327 with a .946 OPS. He has four doubles, a triple, six home runs and 21 RBIS over that span. He has been the Braves’ best offensive player during this stretch.
The key? Sticking to his process.
“Obviously in this game, you fail seven out of 10. It’s bound to happen, you’re bound to have your ups and downs,” Swanson said. “It’s the hardest game in the world. I think there’s a lot of joy that happens in the work.”
Recently, Kyle Wright, Swanson’s teammate at Vanderbilt, cited Swanson’s competitiveness and desire to win. It’s the only thing, Wright said, Swanson cares about in the game. And following Wednesday’s game, when asked what allows Swanson to stay level during slumps so he can find his way out, Austin Riley pointed to the same quality.
“Just the competitive nature, I think, in him,” Riley said. “He wants to win more than anybody I know. That’s the thing. I think he puts that first. Whether it’s on the defensive side, offensive side, if he can help the ball team win, I think that’s all that matters. And at the same time, he’s figuring his stuff out.”
Last season, from July 16 to Aug. 16, Swanson hit .318 with a .951 OPS during a hot streak. Through a month and change of the shortened 2020 season, he hit .300 with an .833 OPS.
As of Thursday, he has a .250 batting average and a .751 OPS over his career. But he’s always been able to put together incredible stretches.
Over the first part of this season, Swanson’s glove has shined. He looks like one of baseball’s better defensive shortstops, and perhaps one of its better defenders overall. But a few weeks into the season, his bat began to come around and he began to hit. He is still hitting. This is merely one of those torrid stretches for which he’s become known during his career.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned so far in my career is to stay driven and focused on the process,” Swanson said. “I know it’s become such a cliché saying in sports these days, ‘Just trust your work, trust your work.’ Just kind of was able to sit down and tell myself that the goal is to be the best version of Swanson, both on and off the field, and not necessarily just have it be the results. Keeping my heart and brain in that spot has really paid dividends, and that’s just how I’m going to keep rolling.”