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  "path": "/cubs/2026/04/14/cubs-shortstop-dansby-swanson-heating-up-by-simplifying-approach-at-plate",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-15T00:09:14.947Z",
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  "textContent": "<p>PHILADELPHIA — <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs\" >Cubs</a> shortstop Dansby Swanson needed to get out of his own head.</p><p>When he was in a slump, Swanson used to watch endless videos in an effort to identify the problem. A player who stands out defensively because of his tremendous instincts and reactions had become too mechanical at the plate.</p><p>During the offseason, Swanson worked on mindfulness. He wanted to quiet the self-created noise in his head by simplifying his approach at the plate and avoiding tinkering.</p><p>‘‘The biggest thing is trusting myself and getting out of a space of overthinking [and] just going out there and really just trusting my ability,’’ Swanson told the Sun-Times.</p><p>After finishing with a 105 weighted runs created-plus in 2023 — 100 represents the major-league average — Swanson finished at 97 in 2024 and 99 last season. A member of the vaunted class of free-agent shortstops in 2022, the Cubs had bet on Swanson’s mix of athleticism and defense aging well through his early 30s.</p><p>The underlying numbers didn’t portend an immediate decline, but Swanson — who has had four seasons of 20 or more home runs in his career — thought he was leaving some production on the table. To be the best version of himself, he had to do some serious self-evaluation in the offseason.</p><p>‘‘I’m a pretty stubborn person, so that took its own work,’’ he said. ‘‘It was about removing myself a little bit.’’</p><p>That required Swanson to overhaul his view of hitting. He no longer could be beholden to expected numbers or obsessed with watching videos of his at-bats and moved away from drill-based work, which he thought was taking away from his natural ability as a hitter.</p><p>So far, the results haven’t shown up in the box score for Swanson. Entering the Cubs’ game Tuesday against the Phillies, he was batting .173/.323/.365.</p><p>Unswayed by the lack of success, Swanson said he has to trust his new approach will lead to success sooner or later. He looks to his walk rate — an unsustainably high 18.5% — as evidence that he’s heading down the right path.</p><p>Swanson has been a streaky hitter throughout his career, so he’s staying disciplined and avoiding the temptation of searching too hard for answers.</p><p>‘‘As athletes, we want to be good so bad that sometimes that can almost work against us,’’ he said. ‘‘At times for me, that’s been a thing where it’s like: ‘I didn’t hit this or get a hit today by doing it this way. That means tomorrow I need to do something different in order to be good.’</p><p>‘‘Sometimes you need to make it really elementary, and that’s kind of what I’ve been able to do over the last week or so. And I think the more you vocalize it and talk about it and speak your mind to people, it helps them hold you accountable to those same principles. That’s been the focus.”</p><p>In his last six games entering Tuesday, Swanson was batting .250/.423/.600, including an opposite-field homer Monday. Returning to a more fundamental approach has been good for him as he looks to avoid the dry spells he seemingly endures every season.</p><p>Decluttering his mind by talking with coaches and jotting down his thoughts on paper has made him more confident in his plan at the plate than in years past.</p><p>‘‘Being able to have those conversations [with people] allows for the clarity to come,’’ Swanson said. ‘‘You can work your way through the problems instead of holding it in your head and going down your own rabbit hole.’’</p><p></p><bsp-listcarousel class=\"PageListE\" data-module data-column-count=3 data-hide-authors=\"true\" data-hide-categories=\"true\" data-hide-dates=\"true\" data-hide-descriptions=\"true\" data-show-loadmore=\"true\" ><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"list-c90005\" name=\"list-c90005\"></a><div class=\"PageList-header\" > <div class=\"PageList-header-title-wrap\" > <div class=\"PageList-header-title\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs\" 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worked deep into the Cubs’ victory Sunday against the Pirates.]}], isFeatured=false, timestamp=1776037143000, target=null, media=[{ampLink=null, _styledTemplate=null, _template=/image/Image.hbs, alt=Jameson Taillon watches Brandon Lowe's second-inning grand slam Sunday. , narrowImage={src=https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/1f/2a/3acb2ac84e2bbe259d2d1dd55589/pirates-cubs-baseball.jpg, width=3588, height=2392}, image={src=https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/1f/2a/3acb2ac84e2bbe259d2d1dd55589/pirates-cubs-baseball.jpg, width=3588, height=2392}}], primaryMediaType=null, anchorId=promo-620002, ampLink=null, title=Jameson Taillon fights the wind, gives Cubs six innings, publishDate=April 12, 2026 06:39 PM, audio=[], audioDuration=null, _template=/page/promo/PagePromo.hbs, url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2026/04/12/jameson-taillon-fights-the-wind-gives-cubs-six-innings}], tableFont=font-1, carouselAutoPlay=false, promoTitleFont=font-2, ctaButtonText=[], primaryTextColor=#2a2a2a, 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data-crop=\"medium-4x3\"> <source type=\"image/webp\" width=\"490\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f3545d9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3573x2392+7+0/resize/490x328!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F1f%2F2a%2F3acb2ac84e2bbe259d2d1dd55589%2Fpirates-cubs-baseball.jpg\"/> <source width=\"490\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/adab0f1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3573x2392+7+0/resize/490x328!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F1f%2F2a%2F3acb2ac84e2bbe259d2d1dd55589%2Fpirates-cubs-baseball.jpg\"/> <img class=\"Image\" alt=\"Jameson Taillon watches Brandon Lowe's second-inning grand slam Sunday. \" width=\"490\" height=\"328\" 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  "title": "Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson heating up by simplifying approach at plate",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-15T00:15:54.824Z"
}