How Dansby Swanson sees his impact on the field — and in the Chicago Cubs' front office

New York Times

24-05-2025

When Dansby Swanson signed a $177 million contract with the Chicago Cubs, the Gold Glove shortstop recognized the investment came with a certain level of responsibility. Swanson took it seriously enough that another offer became an inside joke. Cubs executives Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins would give Swanson an offseason cubicle — only if he wore khakis to the office.
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That was an obvious nonstarter, given Swanson's sense of style. Instead, the Cubs are making the Swanson flow headband a Wrigley Field giveaway next weekend, so fans can rock the look of his jet-black hair. Around the team, though, it is more about substance.
Growing up in Georgia, Swanson was an undersized and overlooked recruit before he caught the attention of Vanderbilt, which he helped elevate into a College World Series-winning program. As a No. 1 draft pick who got traded to his hometown team, Swanson understood pressure and expectations, and how the Atlanta Braves constructed a World Series winner. Marrying his wife Mallory, a forward for the Chicago Stars and the U.S. women's national soccer team, increased Swanson's presence on the North Side, and they are expecting their first child.
Considering Swanson's stature and what he observed as the Cubs hit an 83-win ceiling his first two seasons in Chicago, it seemed natural that he would give more input in a make-or-break year for this front office.
'They've been really thoughtful and intentional about building this roster out to give us the best chance to succeed,' Swanson said during spring training. 'I haven't really been involved, honestly. I've been trying to make sure that my own stuff is taken care of before saying anything else.'
Swanson's overall value is tied up in elite defense at a premium position, as well as those leadership qualities. But the best version of the 2025 Cubs needed more from their All-Star shortstop. During the first month, he was still searching.
Swanson's OPS had dropped below .700 and his batting average hovered slightly above .200 when Cubs manager Craig Counsell dropped him to eighth in the April 29 lineup. Across the next 21 games, Swanson hit .387 with six home runs and a 1.100 OPS, showing the streakiness that's also part of his profile.
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'This is Dansby,' Counsell said. 'Players get to their offensive value a little differently.'
With nearly one-third of the season complete, Swanson entered Memorial Day weekend on pace for around 30 homers, 90 RBIs, 100 runs scored, 20 stolen bases and 6 WAR. If not for Pete Crow-Armstrong's emergence as a star and Kyle Tucker's all-around excellence, Swanson would be getting more attention as a catalyst. But being a first-place team is a collective effort.
'The one thing with Dansby,' Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said, 'is he wants to win. He's doing everything he possibly can to win. Even if offensively it's not there, he's playing great defense. He's running the bases. He's beating out double-play balls. He's going first to third.
'There's a winning attitude that comes with him. You wouldn't know that he's 0-for-12 or 12-for-12 if at the end of that night 'Go Cubs Go' is playing.'
It's not quite that Swanson was stretched too thin — he accounted for 9-plus WAR during his first two seasons with the Cubs combined. However, being a franchise player and learning a new organization takes up a lot of bandwidth. A few injuries forced him to adjust his all-162-games mentality. A nagging core muscle issue necessitated offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia.
And the game is hard enough as it is.
'You're always trying to figure things out,' Swanson said, 'always wanting to fix something. Sometimes, you just need to take a step back and remember what you're good at and just go do it. Trust that it's not about numbers.
'It's about putting together competitive at-bats. It's about being committed to an approach, committed to whatever the situation is, whether it's moving a runner over, getting somebody in, getting on base. It's just really kind of looking outward instead of looking at yourself.
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'You can get stuck all night looking at video or trying to figure out this or that: 'Well, I did this like five years ago and it felt good, why can't I just do that again?' You just go down every rabbit hole instead of just understanding that it's a new year.'
This year hasn't gone entirely according to plan for the Cubs. Three starters in the projected Opening Day rotation — Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad — are on the injured list. The Cubs keep rearranging their bullpen, with Ryan Pressly losing the closer's job to Porter Hodge, who then injured an oblique muscle. The opening schedule, loaded with trips to Japan and the West Coast and series against the National League's best teams, was grueling.
With the star power generated by Tucker and Crow-Armstrong, a bigger and better nucleus of complementary players and the organization's improved pitching depth, the Cubs believe they can prevent the extended down periods that sank the last two seasons.
'That's why Jed's put this group together, knowing and understanding that we can overcome the different things that can be thrown our way,' Swanson said. 'For the first five weeks of the season, we were just banging it around, (but) we don't have to score 10 runs to win every game. It's finding ways to win games, regardless.'
Swanson will never stop thinking about the trade deadline or future free agents. The game is too consuming to turn off that part of his brain. And the lines of communication among the clubhouse, the manager's office and the front office are still wide-open.
Swanson can also see the growth in young players such as catcher Miguel Amaya and reliever Daniel Palencia. Cade Horton impressed Swanson with his composure during his major-league debut in New York. Free agents who largely flew under the radar, such as Matthew Boyd, Colin Rea and Carson Kelly, have fit in perfectly. The plan is coming together.
'A lot of it is just confidence in Jed and Couns,' Swanson said. 'Couns knows what he wants. Couns knows what our group needs. It's a combination of trust in them and also just putting extra emphasis on taking care of my own stuff. Because that's obviously important to our success, too, me being where I need to be. At the end of the day, I can come up with all the best and coolest ideas in the world, but it's not my decision.'