Dansby Swanson knows he can be an overthinker.
Often during tough offensive stretches, Swanson tends to look into the numbers in an effort to diagnose why he’s not locked in. Chicago Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly has worked with Swanson to tweak that mentality. Instead the focus this offseason — and through spring training and into the season — emphasized embracing his athleticism, just like Swanson does when playing shortstop.
“He has this swag when he’s out on defense, and I think offensively he hasn’t really had that,” Kelly noted late in spring training.
Shifting his attention away from the nitty-gritty of his mechanics and toward a more macro approach of harnessing his athleticism while hitting, Swanson is seeing encouraging early production. He slugged a three-run home run in the Cubs’ 5-1 series-opening win against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night at Wrigley Field.
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Swanson’s fifth home run of the year helped the Cubs (13-9) put up four runs in the second inning against Phillies starter Aaron Nola. The 110.3 mph exit velocity registered as the hardest-hit ball of Swanson’s career.
“That was absolutely a big swing tonight,” manager Craig Counsell said after his team’s sixth straight win. “The batting average (.192) doesn’t necessarily look good, but the power, the on-base (.322) is right where we need it.”
Right-hander Colin Rea handled the Phillies, tossing 6 2/3 innings while surrendering just one run on six hits. Justin Crawford’s double in the fourth landed just beyond Pete Crow-Armstrong’s diving catch attempt on a 76-foot sprint to left-center, producing Philadelphia’s lone run. Rea retired nine of the next 11 batters, allowing just two baserunners on singles.
Stellar defense aided Rea and the bullpen. Ian Happ stole a foul ball from Kyle Schwarber on a catch into the seats down the left-field line. Michael Busch snagged a rocket and tossed to Rea to end an inning. Nico Hoerner’s diving play to his left swiped a hit on a ripped Schwarber one-hopper. Matt Shaw’s diving catch in right field in the ninth prevented Trea Turner from driving in a run.
“The one play Nico made, the play Matt Shaw made, the play Ian made — I mean, those are just spectacular plays, and just that alone right there, like, that’s enough, that’s a game-changer right there,” Counsell said. “It’s part of run prevention. It makes your pitchers better. And it’s a reason why, for the good defensive teams, I think it shows up every night.”
Swanson in the past would default to mechanical cues — how his front elbow was in line, making sure his leg kick was in the right direction — but he has worked with Kelly to strip everything down. Just focus on setting up in the batter’s box and maintaining good posture.
“The more that we can keep it athletic and more of a rhythm and a timing and less about a mechanical move that he has to make, I think that’s just going to free him up to be a little bit more dynamic in the box,” Kelly told the Tribune. “Before it was more about, OK, when he breaks his hands, the barrel needs to be at the top and then my front knee needs to be here, and so we’ve just tried to strip all of that away and looking at more timing and how are you moving.”
Centering his attention on his stance and posture helps Swanson focus on the things he can control in the box. He believes that can create the type of presence he wants to have at the plate, regardless of where he might be hitting in the lineup.
“It’s somewhat of a constant battle just because we all have a safety net that we always fall back into, and that’s typically mine,” Swanson told the Tribune earlier this month. “If things aren’t going exactly perfect, I can very much deep dive into all the different things and something that has obviously been a little bit of a battle so far this year. But I think the instances and moments where I felt best, I have been very free.
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“Each day being able to get into the headspace to be able to bring it can be a little bit of a challenge because whenever you start going through things, you start trying to feel your way through it instead of letting yourself go be free. And if you mess up, you mess up, who cares?”
Swanson’s swing decisions are trending up, in some ways at an elite level. His 16.7% walk rate is 13th in the majors, well above his career average (8.8%), while his .219 isolated power ranks second on the Cubs and also sits above his career mark (.164).
That power production has overcome incredibly poor luck so far this season. Swanson’s .188 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is the 10th-lowest among the 177 qualified big-league hitters.
“Overall, I feel like things are kind of where they should be,” Swanson said. “But if I can just stick true to my process, then the results will be there when they need to be.”