Atlanta Braves Dansby Swanson Could be the Next Derek Jeter
The Atlanta Braves are on the verge of a possible dynasty. Dansby Swanson could very well lead them to the next level.
Relax. No Atlanta Braves fan wants their prospects to be compared to anything that has to do with Derek Jeter or the New York Yankees. But it may be an inevitable comparison with the special talent they have sitting on the precipice of greatness.
The Atlanta Braves have made a ton of moves over the past few seasons. They acquired a bevy of first round picks and top prospects whose ceilings — as the great Michael Jordan said — are the roof.
None may be as important as Dansby Swanson.
Looking at Swanson's stats, it's easy to see why he is such an exciting player. To understand Swanson's greatness, however, one has to really watch him play.
Swanson came into the big leagues as a proven winner. Part of the Vanderbilt teams that were in back-to-back College World Series finales, Swanson was one of their many MLB-ready stars. After the Arizona Diamondbacks made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, he was a driving force in the Hillsboro Hops Northwest League championship run.
The Braves then robbed the Diamondbacks for the second time in a calendar year and got Swanson for essentially nothing. He played the majority of 2016 for the Mississippi Braves in Double-A prior to his call-up. That team made the Southern League championship.
Swanson — having never taken a swing at a Triple-A pitch — got the call to The Show late in the season. Unlike Jeter, he would never go back.
The old saying goes believe none of what you hear and half of what you see. There is also something to be said about patterns, however.
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You can believe the stats you read are for real. You can believe that maybe he had some bigger strikeout issues as he climbed the ladder by watching his swing.
But Swanson had always been a winner. That is his pattern. And when he arrived in Atlanta, the Braves — a mere 68-win ball club in 2016 — instantly became one of the hottest teams in baseball for the last month of the season.
If you think that's a coincidence, you didn't watch them play.
Swanson was all that was advertised. He slashed .302/.361/.442 in his 38-game debut. He added three home runs, seven doubles and 17 RBI batting primarily at the bottom of the order. His defense was shaky at first, but once he settled in, he made quite a few big plays. The energy he showed making said plays was what makes Swanson special.
This spring he picked up right where he left off. He's hitting .432 in Grapefruit League action, belting one home run this spring. He has also drawn three walks in spring training when most people are out there trying to get their swing right.
As someone who watched Derek Jeter's entire career, there is something eerily Jeter-esque about Swanson. Jeter was rarely the best player — statistically speaking — on his team. He never won an MVP Award, nor was he ever the best in baseball, like a Mike Trout for example.
What Jeter was, was the most important player on the field at all times. The New York Yankees struggled when Jeter wasn't in the two-hole in the lineup. They couldn't produce runs. Jeter was the conductor that made that Yankees engine go. Whether it was with a single to start a rally or a memorable playoff home run, it always seemed that Jeter was there. Jeter was the guy who disguised his average fielding abilities by making some of the biggest plays when they mattered most.
Swanson has those characteristics. Is he the next member of the 3,000-hit club or a guaranteed Hall of Famer? Not necessarily. Swanson may not put up the same numbers, but he should be good for a .290 to .310 batting average annually with double-digit home runs and solid play up the middle. Or, with just 38 games under his belt, he could surpass Jeter's numbers.
That's the beauty of baseball. You never know.
He's now batting second (sound familiar?) in front of Freddie Freeman and Matt Kemp. He is going to have plenty of opportunity to score runs this season.
While the Braves may still be a year away, they have a lot of pieces in place. If John Hart's and John Coppolella's vision comes to fruition, the Braves are sitting on one of the next young dynasties. Their pitching may steal the spotlight with the amount of Cy Youngs they may win. Freeman may lead the team in home runs and Ender Inciarte and Ronald Acuna may steal the show with their speed and electrifying defense in the outfield.
But Dansby Swanson will be their heralded leader, doing his job when they need him most.
That's just who he is.
