Everyone knew coming into 2019 that Dansby Swanson needed to take big steps forward to prove he is in the long term plans for the Atlanta Braves.
It was quite the Independence Day for Dansby Swanson as he lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 12-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies with a pair of home runs and 5 RBI.
The Atlanta Braves shortstop is in the midst of the greatest season of his career, and as the TV announcers keep reminding us, he’s having one of the best offensive seasons for a shortstop in franchise history.
Through 88 games this season he’s hitting .274 with a .334 OBP, 58 runs scored, 17 home runs, 57 RBI, and 7 stolen bases.
The home runs are already a career high for him, and he’s two runs scored away from a career high, and three RBI away from a career-high there as well.
There is a good chance he reaches those marks before the All-Star break with three games against the Miami Marlins over the weekend.
The former first overall pick was very underwhelming in his first two full seasons with the Atlanta Braves.
That meant the 2019 season was/is very important in determining his future with the Atlanta Braves.
Shortstop is a very deep position in Major League Baseball right now, so saying Dansby is a top 10 shortstop this season is a very big achievement.
He’s eighth in MLB among shortstops with an OPS of .834, he’s fourth in runs scored, sixth in hits, fourth in home runs, third in RBI, and seventh in slugging.
His average and OBP numbers aren’t top 10, but anybody who has watched every game Swanson has played this year knows he’s actually run into some bad luck. He’s stung a lot of baseballs really hard that ended up outs.
Swanson was a finalist for the All-Star game this year but didn’t make it as a starter or a reserve. But if he keeps producing like this, he’ll make an All-Star team soon.
We already know how good he is defensively, even though I think he’s taken a step back on that front this year; although, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the Atlanta Braves are terrible at defensive shifts and alignments.
But still, he’s a very solid defender at shortstop at a premier position.
I hesitate to write this article for fear of jinxing him because I’m really rooting for Dansby to have that career year, which he pretty much already has had.
Let’s all hope Dansby is able to stay healthy and continue to produce at this level for the rest of the season. And then in the offseason we can start talking extension to keep Dansby as our shortstop of the future.