A few weeks ago, Chicago Cubs fans were foaming at the mouth, demanding that shortstop Dansby Swanson be benched. It wasn’t too long ago that Craig Counsell gave the veteran a couple of days off, hoping Swanson could use the time for a mental reset. Entering June 17, Swanson had a jaw-dropping slash line of .175/.281/.306, and his 68 wRC+ across 268 plate appearances was eighth-worst among 156 qualified hitters.
In 13 games since, Swanson has been the third-best hitter in MLB, setting records left and right. After hitting one home run in 44 games from April 25 through June 16, Swanson has nine home runs and 29 RBI. That stretch includes three multi-home run games. In Wednesday’s 23-3 win over the San Diego Padres, Swanson hit three home runs and drove in eight runs.
Going back to last week’s series against the New York Mets, Swanson has eight home runs and 26 runs driven in, vaulting the Cubs’ shortstop into truly elite company.
You have to think about just how down Swanson was in the dumps before this historic streak. The 44-game stretch from the end of April through the middle of June produced a slash line of .154/.234/.217, literally the worst hitter in baseball.
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So, what changed? Well, he did get that mental break early in June, when the Cubs were hosting the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field, and Swanson has also given credit to assistant coach John Mallee.
Mallee is in his second stint in the Cubs organization, rejoining the club in 2023 as the hitting coach in Triple-A. He was later promoted to the big-league staff heading into the 2024 season. Fans may also recognize Mallee’s name, as he was the team’s hitting coach between 2015-17, including the 2016 World Series-winning club.
We’ve written about how someone on the Cubs coaching staff should have been on the hot seat during the Cubs’ atrocious slump that spread throughout the entire lineup, aside from a couple of players. That’s probably unfair, especially because fans will simply never see the work put in behind the scenes. And, well, Swanson has publicly given credit to Mallee, and there was one instance in which a fan did get a glimpse into the work these guys put in.
Thank you, John Mallee! Now, who can save Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman???
