Dansby Swanson's much-discussed swing changes raising an early red flag for the Cubs

Just by stepping onto the field, Dansby Swanson has value for the Chicago Cubs. He's arguably the best defensive shortstop in the National League; we're ignoring his snub last year, and that is going to instantly make him a positive-WAR player. The hidden concern is that Swanson's offense can leave much to be desired, especially when it comes to runners in scoring position. He tweaked his offensive approach during the offseason, and after seeing encouraging results in spring training, the start of the regular season has been a different story.

The Cubs have been coy about the adjustments Swanson made, but the theme has been for the 32-year-old to have a more athletic approach at the plate. That hasn't been accomplished through the first week of the regular season.

In his first 23 plate appearances this season, Swanson is slashing .118/.304/.118 with a wRC+ of 49. A small enough sample size that the Cubs and Swanson don't need to go back to the drawing board, but at the very least, early data to see if there have been any dramatic changes.

Cubs seeing early warning signs from Dansby Swanson changes

The only dramatic difference in his numbers is with his walk rate. He's walking over 21% of the time this season. The percentage is certainly skewed, considering it's only been 23 plate appearances, but the impression would be that being more selective with his pitches might be one of the changes he's made.

If that's the case, it's not working. Swanson is swinging at over 30% of the pitches thrown to him outside of the strike zone and 60% of the pitches in the strike zone. In 2025, those numbers were 25.1% and 60%, respectively. He's making contact with the pitches outside the strike zone nearly 60% of the time, and that could speak to his struggles. If he's making contact with bad pitches, the slash line would certainly be an indicator.

But let's take the Cubs at their word and say the goal was for Swanson to be more athletic with his approach. That may not be working either. Swanson's average bat speed last season was 70.9 mph. Through the first week of this season, that mark is down to 68.6 mph. For reference, Swanson's bat speed was 71.9 mph during his second season with the Cubs in 2024, when the data started to be tracked.

It remains a guessing game in terms of what the actual focus was for Swanson when he made these changes, but the early results would suggest that another tweak or two to the approach may be needed.