BIOGRAPHY
James Dansby Swanson was born on February 11, 1994, in Kennesaw, Georgia. He is a shortstop in the MLB.
Swanson attended Vanderbilt University and played college baseball for the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected him first overall in the 2015 Major League Baseball draft and traded him to the Braves during the 2015–16 offseason. Swaonson resides in Nashville, Tennessee, and is actively involved with the West Nashville Dream Center during the off-season. He enjoys participating in various off-season charitable events during the holidays in Nashville and Atlanta. In his spare time, he enjoys writing, cooking and playing with his dog, Bentley.
On December 9, 2015, the Diamondbacks traded Swanson, Ender Inciarte, and Aaron Blair to the Atlanta Braves. The Braves invited Swanson to spring training, and he was sent to the Carolina Mudcats of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League at the end of spring training. Swanson was promoted to the Mississippi Braves of the Class AA Southern League on April 30, 2016, after hitting .333/.441/.526 in 21 appearances at Carolina. On June 28, he was named to appear in the All-Star Futures Game, soon after having played the Southern League All-Star Game.
On August 16, the Braves announced that Swanson would be promoted to the major leagues the next day. Upon his callup, Swanson was assigned jersey #2. On August 17, he went 2-4 in his MLB debut, including his first career hit off of a Minnesota Twins pitcher. Swanson hit an inside-the-park home run against the Washington Nationals on September 6, his team's first such home run since 2001. With the hit, Swanson followed Paul Runge as the second Brave to make an inside-the-park home run his first career home run. Swanson finished the year at the major league level, recording a .302 batting average, .361 on-base percentage and a .803 on-base plus slugging percentage.
n 2019, Swanson had a productive first half, hitting .270 with 17 home runs before the All-Star break. However, he missed time due to a heel injury in the second half and struggled upon returning to the lineup, hitting only .204 with zero home runs over 142 second-half at-bats. For the season as a whole, he hit .251/.325/.422 with 17 home runs, 65 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.
In his first taste of the postseason, Swanson posted a stellar .389 batting average and .977 OPS over 19 plate appearances in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. One of his hits was a game-tying double in the top of the ninth inning of Game 3 in St. Louis. The Braves won that game 3-1 but ultimately lost the series in five games.
In the shortened 60-game 2020 season, he batted .274/.345/.464 with 49 runs, 10 home runs, and 35 RBIs. On June 3, 2021, Swanson recorded his 500th career hit, a 2-run home run off of Washington Nationals starter Patrick Corbin.
On June 3, 2021, Swanson recorded his 500th career hit, a 2-run home run off of Washington Nationals starter Patrick Corbin. In 2021, he batted .248/.311/.449 with 27 home runs and 88 RBIs.
On October 30, 2021, Swanson hit the game-tying home run in Game 4 of the 2021 World Series. Jorge Soler followed with a solo home run to provide the Braves a 3 games to 1 lead in the World Series. The Braves would go on to win the series.
Swanson was named to the 2022 Major League Baseball All-Star Game roster as a reserve. On September 30, 2022, Swanson hit his 100th career home run off of New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom. Swanson was the only player in Major League Baseball to start all 162 games of the season. Swanson won his first Gold Glove Award at the end of the season.
