Dansby Swanson Is King of the Old Shortstops

It was once stated that outdated guys could not stick at shortstop.

“You know, it’s kind of like a running back after 30 [years old],” then-Rangers supervisor Chris Woodward said back in 2020marveling at the defensive longevity of Elvis Andrus. “Shortstops after 30? There’s not too many of them.”

As of late, although, one thing has modified. Here is a plot exhibiting the quantity of main shortstops qualifying for the batting title of their age-30 season or older. In 2026, there are 9 pacing to qualify, virtually touching the earlier peak in 2014:

I’m not totally positive why that is taking place. I believe it is partly as a result of so many groups are signing shortstops to long-term contracts that carry them into their mid-to-late 30s. If you are spending at the least $150 million on a shortstop, you are going to need him to truly play shortstop. Some of these shortstops of their 30s are exhibiting their age, whereas others have been at the least strong defenders. But although I can not pinpoint precisely what is going on on right here, I believe I can perceive how one specific shortstop is making it work.

Dansby Swanson will not be a toolsy freak like Trea Turnersustaining top-end dash velocity even in his ostensible decline years. Nor does he have a cannon like Carlos Correagunning down runners from deep in the gap. Swanson charges as a barely above-average runner with a weak arm. And but, over the course of this decade, he ranks as the greatest defender at the place by Baseball Savant’s Fielding Run Value.

Much of Swanson’s worth, it should be stated, was compiled in the early half of the 2020s. But at the same time as he is misplaced a step or two over the final couple years, he is managed to stay a plus defender.

While writing this text, I began to consider the nice tennis participant Daniil Medvedev. For a few years, Medvedev has managed to sit down at or close to the high of the males’s tour with flat groundstrokes of decidedly middling energy and a serve of inconsistent high quality. His superpower is monitoring each single ball down, regardless of tempo or spin, and redirecting it deep into the court docket. Unlike Swanson, Medvedev would in all probability grade out as a plus-plus transfer. But I assumed of him as a result of, to my eye, they share a sure spatial genius.

Both Medvedev and Swanson exerted the exact quantity of effort to trace down a ball on contact. In tennis, the defender should learn the spin and trajectory of the shot and know in a split-second the place to intercept the ball and the way their physique will have to be positioned to greatest return the shot. The shortstop does one thing comparable. Speed ​​can assist, however the play is really made in the learn off the bat. That’s when the shortstop should visualize the subsequent few seconds earlier than they’ve really occurred, from the intercept level to the angle of their physique as they information the throw to first base, all whereas making an allowance for the velocity of the runner and their projected place in area.

It is not velocity or power that makes Swanson an important fielder, however as a substitute this proprioceptive instinct that enables him to stay at the place with out superlative instruments.

This is not simply seen in his skill to trace down balls, but additionally in the skill to completely weight his throws. A post I saw the other day made this level effectively: “My absolute favorite thing about watching Dansby Swanson play defense is he throws every ball to first with the EXACT amount of zip it needs for each play. No more, no less. It’s a level of feel for the game I’m not sure I’ve ever seen elsewhere.”

Back in 2023, Elise Menaker delivered a report on the Cubs broadcast on the origins of Swanson’s inner clock. At Vanderbilt, Swanson would follow underneath particular timing situations — the ball needed to be delivered to the first baseman in 4 seconds or much less. These drills, Menaker reported, are the foundation of his skill to beat the runner by a step each time, regardless of the sort of throw.

It hasn’t been his greatest defensive season. His +1 FRV this 12 months and +2 in 2025 recommend he is now barely above common slightly than elite, however the qualities which have made him the greatest of this decade — the intuit, the vary, the clock — have been, at varied factors, on show.

Just take a look at him on this groundball hit by Nathaniel Lowe earlier this month. Swanson slides to the floor, corrals the ball, spins, and fires a throw that beats Lowe by a step.

At full velocity, it seems fairly spectacular; at quarter velocity, it is even cooler. Off the bat, Swanson has recognized the exact intercept coordinates, and his small, uneven steps information him to that precise level. Just previous to gloving the ball, Swanson begins angling his physique towards heart subject, getting a head begin on the 360 ​​spin to return. He even throws in a bit of double clutch as soon as he realizes he has a handful of milliseconds to regular himself for the throw. Everything is calibrated.

He does this so continuously that, later on this very same inning, he made an almost equivalent play:

Here’s one other one for good measure, nabbing the extraordinarily speedy Jacob Young at first. Notice how the whole course of is sped up, in comparison with the two highlights above, this time to match the tempo of the runner:

Swanson particularly excels on gradual rollers; he is gotten most of his defensive worth in his profession from coming in on balls. His clock is on show right here in a chaotic scenario, with a runner crossing proper in entrance of the ball, and even perhaps deliberately attempting to intrude together with his sight line. Freddy Ferminthe batter, really has respectable velocity, however Swanson has the pacing precisely down right here, not ever dashing and nonetheless getting Fermin by a step.

On the play beneath, Swanson is confronted with a barely completely different problem – Chandler Simpson chopping a ball 5 toes in entrance of the plate onto a turf infield. Swanson’s pacing, naturally, is accelerated to match the velocity of Simpson, and he will get him by the identical margin as he did Fermin.

Swanson may be stretched skinny in sure contexts. Turner is (nonetheless, by some means) one of the quickest guys in the league; Swanson sat again on his chopper, and wanted a max effort throw to gun him down. It was not on course:

And Swanson simply does not have the excessive bodily skills to make the Bobby Witt Jr.-style performs deep in the gap to his proper. Savant’s mannequin gave Swanson a couple of 50/50 shot of making this play, but it surely did not actually ever appear to be he had an opportunity:

If there is a pressure play at second, nonetheless, he can deal with it simply effective:

As all these outdated shortstops cling onto their jobs, Swanson gives a mannequin for a method that it could get performed. It does not essentially take your mid-20s physique to excel defensively, but it surely may take an unquantifiable combine of imaginative and prescient, notion, and really feel.