Dansby Swanson was in no mood to size up his performance as a Cub since signing a seven-year free-agent contract — the second-richest in total value in team history — entering the 2023 season.
“It’s not really a question that’s, like, answerable,” he said before the start of a weekend series against the Blue Jays at Wrigley Field. “As with anything, there’s ups, there’s downs, there’s in between, there’s bits of it all. I’m not, like, going home reflecting on my up-to-date time here. That’s just not how I live or operate.”
Cubs fans operate on a different wavelength, of course, more so all the time as the years pass since the World Series breakthrough of 2016. Many of them can’t stop barking about the $177 million shortstop with an almost impossibly puny .177 batting average, which is where Swanson was on the season after a somewhat encouraging day at the plate Friday in a 16-2 victory.
Swanson’s defense: as ever, golden. His offense: on the whole since signing, just not at an All-Star level. And lately, as if a visitor to his locker needed to point it out, an impotent bat has fans crying out for a benching.
No real clap-back from Swanson on that, for those wondering.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions,” he said. “I’m a sports fan, too. I have my teams that I root for and get upset with certain players at times. I’m no stranger to that. People are entitled to feel the way they feel. I get frustrated about it, too, the play and the performance.”
But there’s no hiding from a meatball of a question: Can he hit or not?
“I know I can,” Swanson said. “I literally feel it every day when I show up here: Today is the day the dam breaks.
“Every day when I walk in these doors, I feel that. I think that’s what’s made it even more frustrating for me. I know what I’m capable of doing and just haven’t shown it, this year, especially.”
Coming off a homer in his last game, Swanson stepped to the plate in the first inning Friday — the Cubs already ahead 6-0 — and lined a Kevin Gausman fastball into left for a single. He then stole second with a head-first slide, took third on an infield hit by Pete Crow-Armstrong and scored on an Alex Bregman hit. It was quite the change to see Swanson, batting ninth, dirtied from chest to knee so early in a game when it didn’t happen on defense.
He later walked twice — once with the bases loaded — and reached on an error on a hard-hit smash to third, and finished with two steals, two runs scored and, as usual, several plays in the field without incident. It’s called playing baseball, and Swanson did a fine enough job of it by any assessment.
Still, Swanson is locked in a sad battle with Padres star Manny Machado and the Rangers’ Evan Carter for the lowest batting average in baseball and ranks in the bottom 10 with an OPS of .601. After hitting .151 with a .448 OPS in May, Swanson is at .152 and .511 in June. He has one multi-hit game since April, only two multi-RBI games and only three multi-run games.
In the modern era (starting in 1900), the worst Cubs batting average for a player with at least 400 at-bats was shortstop Ivan De Jesus’ .194 in 1981. One would think Swanson will surpass that, but the games are flying by.
Ironically, catcher Carson Kelly’s career-high six RBI Friday was the first game with that many knocked in by a Cub since Swanson did it last Aug. 29 at Colorado. Swanson had three hits and two homers and scored three times in that 11-7 win. In 99 games since, he has scored three runs only once and had three hits only once, both in April of this season.
There are fans calling for more Matt Shaw in the infield, at Swanson’s expense.
“As far as in the clubhouse, I don’t think anybody feels that way,” Shaw said. “I know nobody feels that way.”
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer batted the idea aside earlier in the week, saying the Cubs “can’t just run away from our run prevention at times when we struggle offensively.”
On the field Friday as the Cubs warmed up, a writer stopped manager Craig Counsell and asked how good a hitter Swanson is when he isn’t all fouled up.
“When he’s good? I don’t know if I can answer that question,” Counsell said. “Because it’s really: What is the player? He’s been a league-average hitter, and a league-average hitter at shortstop is good, if that makes sense, with his defense. It’s the whole player. The whole player is what matters, and that’s why he’s a really valuable player.”
Once upon a time, Theo Epstein signed pitcher Jon Lester to a six-year, $155 million contract, the best free-agent deal in Cubs history. Epstein also signed outfielder Jason Heyward for eight years and $184 million, with disappointing results. But Heyward was a clubhouse rock — you might have heard about a certain rain-delay speech in Cleveland — and possesses a World Series ring to end most arguments.
Hoyer’s deals with Swanson and third baseman Alex Bregman — five years, $175 million — don’t have anyone throwing bouquets.
“It’s just been the batter’s box, right?” Swanson said. “That’s the one thing that we all pay attention to. Those numbers and stats are in front of us at all times. But everything else with the game, or in [the clubhouse], has been unbelievable.”
Swanson the hitter insists he’s confident.
“That stuff’s never wavered,” he said.
But there are ups, and there are downs — and far too much of the latter.