When the Braves traded frontline starter Shelby Miller for a center fielder and a No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft, it was one of the rare John Coppolella moves not greeted with the moans of the damned. That one of the key components already had Atlanta written all over him was a nice bonus.
James Dansby Swanson — he always went by Dansby, his mother’s maiden name — began his baseball at Adams Park in Kennesaw. Moved on to the select East Cobb program, where he played for a while with the son of Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. Split time between baseball and basketball at Marietta High.
Swanson may have discovered joys outside metro Atlanta, still making his offseason base in his old college town of Nashville.
There is just this uncommon air of belonging and belief about this soon-to-be 22-year-old who has yet to take his first cut at a big league pitch.
Read more about the Braves' newest hometown hero:
