Atlanta Braves Call Up Former No. 1 Overall Draft Pick, And No. 5 Prospect In Baseball, Dansby Swanson
Big day today. The Atlanta Braves are calling up the number five prospect in the MLB, and the number one overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft, shortstop Dansby Swanson.
Swanson is the next in line to represent a growing list of prospects who have either had limited time, or have skipped the Triple-A level entirely, in order to go straight to the MLB from Double-A. Swanson is skipping Triple-A entirely. The number six prospect in baseball, Andrew Benintendi, just did the exact same thing earlier this month with the Boston Red Sox. Swanson earned his promotion to the majors after hitting .261 with a .745 OPS in 377 plate appearances for the Braves’ Double-A affiliate.
Those numbers might not jump out at you, but he got off to a rough start after being promoted from High-A, hitting .239 with a .700 OPS over his first 38 games. Over his last 202 plate appearances in Double-A, he’s hitting .281 with a .783 OPS, which still doesn’t scream, “He’s ready for The Show” to me, but I guess I understand the logic behind it.
The logic being that it’s the fuckin’ Atlanta Braves. They’re the worst team in baseball, and they believe that Swanson is going to be their next face of the franchise. Better to have him cut his teeth at the major league level while the games don’t mean anything, as opposed to once they finally get to where they’re going during their rebuilding process, which is likely going to take several years.
Regardless of that, it’ll be interesting to see how the 22-year-old performs at the major league level, after not really tearing the cover off the ball in Double-A, and then skipping Triple-A altogether. Can’t really call this a “desperate” move by Atlanta, because they’re obviously not looking to inject some life into their major league club in hopes of making a push for the postseason, but it’s certainly a trend developing here with how organizations are handling their top prospects.
Swanson, if you recall, was the centerpiece of a trade package that was sent to Atlanta from Arizona in exchange for Shelby Miller, who has been a complete mess for the Diamondbacks this year. Miller spent a month on the disabled list from late May to late June, and his time spent on the major league roster has been a disaster, going 2-9 with 7.14 ERA, before being optioned to Triple-A on July 14. To his credit, he’s actually pitched pretty well since his demotion, accumulating a 2.88 ERA in 8 starts with 64 strikeouts in 50 innings.