Since being signed by the Chicago Cubs in free agency ahead of the 2023 season, shortstop Dansby Swanson has not quite produced at the level the team had hoped for when agreeing to a massive seven-year, $177 million deal.

He was a big part of their long-term game plan, coming over from the Atlanta Braves to serve as a centerpiece of the team’s offensive attack.

In his final year with the Braves, Swanson had a .277/.329/.447 slash line with 25 home runs, 32 doubles, one triple and 18 stolen bases to go along with 96 RBI.

The 114 OPS+ was his highest in a full season in his career. He produced a career-high 5.5 bWAR, earning his first All-Star nomination along with finishing 12th in the National League MVP Race.

Aug 4, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson (7) gestures after hitting a two-run home run against the Cincinnati Reds during the third inning at Wrigley Field. / David Banks-Imagn Images

There was a lot to like about his game and it was easy to see why the Cubs committed such a large amount of money to him.

Coming off a career year at the plate, Swanson is also a stellar defender at shortstop, winning the Gold Glove award for the first time in his career in 2022.

In his first season in Chicago, Swanson was excellent again with a 5.2 bWAR, earning a second consecutive trip to the Midsummer Classic, winning the Gold Glove Award again and being 19th in NL MVP balloting.

While not as impactful as originally hoped in the following two campaigns, he remains a steady producer at the plate and impactful defensively with his glovework.

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

However, there is one clear weakness in his game that is holding him back from taking his production to that next level.

Swanson has no answer when opposing pitchers throw him anything offspeed, producing one of the worst batting averages in baseball amongst players who have seen at least 200 offerings of that kind.

As shared by nugget chef on X, the Cubs star has gone 6-for-54 in 2025 off of offspeed pitching. His .111 batting average is better than only JJ Bleday of the Athletics, who is hitting .066 after going 4-for-61 and Wyatt Langford of the Texas Rangers, who is 5-for-47, equaling out a .106 batting average.

Throughout his career, as shared at Baseball Savant, the veteran shortstop hasn’t found a ton of success against those kinds of offerings.

On five separate occasions, Swanson recorded a batting average of .200 or worse. Outside of his debut in 2016, he recorded an average of at least .250 only twice.

This would be four consecutive years his batting average against those offerings is the lowest when compared to fastballs and breaking balls.

Swanson hasn’t been great against breaking balls either, but has been at .200 or better from 2019 and on.

At this point in his career, it is hard to envision something clicking when it comes to figuring out offspeed pitches. But, even just getting that average to the Mendoza Line would be a nice boost to his overall production.

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