Atlanta Braves: What to Look For in Spring Training
By Kit Anderson
- Can Dansby Swanson take a step forward?
The dreaded sophomore slump hit Dansby Swanson hard last season. Seemingly getting overwhelmed after over thinking his game early last season Swanson struggled much of the year. His struggle begin to bleed over on defense and the Braves were forced to send him down.
To their credit and proving this writer wrong, the time in the minors seemed to help Swanson he came back refreshed and played much better the latter half of the season. He seemed to feed off of young second baseman Ozzie Albies.
Playing well together and encouraging Braves fans that Swanson was still the shortstop of the future. Watching Swanson this Spring may not tell us a lot but it will point to how prepared he will be and if he looks locked in headed into the season.
A quick start for Swanson is paramount maybe more so than for any other player in the lineup because of his struggles and bad luck early last year. If he had of had better luck it is not hard to imagine him avoiding the struggles and poor plate tendencies he had last year all together.
Swanson needs to heat up this Spring and ride it into the 2018 season if he wants to take a step forward and answered the questions that he left in 2017.