Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson’s still not hitting
By Fred Owens
Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson homered Sunday to help the team win a game they had no right winning. While clutch hitting is off the charts his overall numbers continue their downward trend.
The first thing to do for me is to admit I made assumptions about the Atlanta Braves shortstop without digging deeply into the numbers. My memory said Dansby Swanson became more effective when he switched to the ax bat, but that’s incorrect
Swanson switched to the ax bat when he returned from the disabled list as a way of protecting his wrist. A study by Dr. ViJay Gupta, a professor in the engineering department at UCLA shows that the bat allows the hitter to generate for more bat speed and power than traditional bats.
Former Major Leaguer and Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis says it produces a more natural swing and protects the hamate bone:
"“With the round knob, you get big calluses on your hand, big blisters because of that knob moving around in your hand . . . (and that) can cause a hamate bone (the tiny bones at the base of our hands) injury.”"
As I recall Swanson said he liked to choke up on the bat and the ax bat made that feel odd so he returned his original bat.