Atlanta Braves: 5 players entering a make-or-break season in 2020

Dansby Swanson

We start with the obvious, and one I already talked about, but this is undeniably a huge year for Dansby Swanson.

Again, I thought last season was going to be his make-or-break season, but because of the nature of his 2019 season here we are again.

It looked as if we had our answer in the first half of 2019 that Dansby was undoubtedly the shortstop of the future in Atlanta.

In the first half last season, he hit .270 with 17 home runs, 57 RBI, and 58 runs scored to go along with a .330 OBP and .822 OPS.

That was pretty much everything we were hoping Swanson would become one day. And for those that remember, Swanson was hitting the ball even better than his numbers were showing in that first half.

But then he really started to slow down even before a heel injury that cost him over a month.

In the second half of the season, he only played 38 games and hit just .204 and didn’t hit another home run.

However, he finished the season on fire giving us hope that he was turning the corner. He picked up 9 hits in his last five games of the regular season, and then he was 7-for-18 in the postseason with 3 doubles.

On top of his up-and-down 2019 season offensively, he also took a step back defensively.

Going into 2020 he still has a lot to prove in order to show he’s the future shortstop of the Braves.

He still has three seasons under arbitration before he becomes a free agent.

But if he doesn’t show consistent improvement in 2020 the Braves could start looking for another long-term option at shortstop.

On the other hand — and what I really hope happens — if Dansby finally has that full breakout season, we could see Atlanta lock him up for a while with a contract extension.