It didn’t seem like much at the time, but perhaps a strained side muscle that forced Dansby Swanson to miss two weeks of 2017 spring training had residual effects during a season that went awry early for the Braves shortstop.
Swanson never used it as an excuse or even mentioned that injury again until he was asked by a reporter Friday whether the early spring incident might’ve contributed to his regular-season struggles.
“I think it kind of disrupted a little bit of the good vibes that I had going on because it all started so well, and then to have something like that was really unexpected,” said Swanson, who had sizzled at the plate in the first week of spring games before the injury. “I didn’t really handle it, I guess, as best as I should have. But that’s in the past, and we’re looking forward to a healthy one this time.”
He reported for the start of another spring training Friday, two days before position players were due in and three days before the first full-squad workout.
The Marietta native and former No. 1 overall draft pick out of Vanderbilt isn’t the featured player in Braves advertising and season-ticket campaigns the way he was a year ago, when Swanson’s likeness was plastered on billboards in metro Atlanta despite being a rookie with only 38 games of major league experience.
After that build-up as the next face of the franchise -- and a photogenic face at that -- Swanson saw some of his enormous popularity chipped away as some fans jumped off the bandwagon during his 2017 struggles. He hit .232 with six homers and a .636 OPS in 144 games (551 plate appearances), after batting .302 with an .803 OPS in 145 PAs during his late-season call-up the year before.
“That was a big year for him last year, a learning year,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He had a couple of months (in 2016), came up, did well, and guys probably think they know, but until they experience it they don’t really know what the first full year in the major leagues (will be like). He went through a lot, had to handle a lot. Had to handle a lot off the field, just from the beginning last year.
“I’m driving around town seeing his picture on buses and things like that in his first full year. He had a bobblehead and all that kind of stuff. So he internalized and went through a lot last year, and it’s going to do nothing but help him going forward.”
Things got so bad last summer that Swanson was sent to Triple-A in late July, a demotion that would’ve lasted longer if not for Johan Camargo’s knee injury that necessitated Swanson’s return.
After batting only .213 with a .287 on-base percentage and .599 OPS in 95 games before he was sent down, Swanson did play better upon returning from Triple-A, batting .268 with a .360 OBP and .707 OPS in 29 games the rest of the season. Nothing to get overly excited about, but definite improvement, particularly the OBP and the mental outlook – he came back from the demotion more relaxed and set on making sure to enjoy playing the game.
“That was last year,” said Swanson, who has lived in Nashville since college and spent the offseason working out there at Vanderbilt. “Whether I finished strong or not, it doesn’t really matter because it’s a new year, and I’m looking to build off things starting this year. Last year is last year, it’s in the past and I already kind of reflected, and that’s in the wayside.”
It became so difficult for those who care about him to watch Swanson’s struggles, some teammates and coaches said they hope even greater expectations don’t become a burden on Braves phenom Ronald Acuna, the consensus No. 1 prospect in baseball only one year after Swanson was a top-three prospect.
Braves veteran Freddie Freeman was asked about trying to shield an elite prospect from such heavy expectations.
“I don’t think you can,” Freeman said. “That’s all that person, how the individual person handles that. I think Dansby handled it great. It’s just he didn’t get off to the start he wanted to. And he’s here to prove a point this year, and he’s going to do that.”
Snitker said he hasn’t talked to Swanson about last season since it ended and probably wouldn’t. At this point, there’s probably no reason to.
“I think that probably everything that I would tell him he would probably know after the experience of last year,” said Snitker, who said he’s as confident as ever about Swanson having a bright future. “It’s not going to be a bad thing looking back on what he went through last year because he’s just one of a million players who’ve been through that. Seeing him this year, he’s going to have a lot better idea of what he’s getting into, and I know he’ll be ready.
“Everything that was dealt to him last year, he handled it all with a mature look, a mature attitude. Even when we sent him down, he got it. And at the time I felt like it was the right thing to do. Again, he won’t be the last guy that that happens to. Sometimes it’s the best thing. It’s happened to some really good players over the years. You go down and the experiences, the whole thing, I guarantee you when the year was over and he looked at everything and started thinking about – that’s part of the growing process of a young player.”
