This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
CHICAGO -- Dansby Swanson headed to the outfield at American Family Field on Wednesday and went through a series of running and agility moves. The Cubs shortstop then shifted to playing catch before heading to the infield for defensive work, and then moved back to the outfield to go through relay drills.
While on the injured list, Swanson has steadily checked the boxes presented to him.
“I’ve really, really just relied on the people that know best,” Swanson said. “And I’ve just kind of, in a way, given myself the freedom to, whatever they put in front of me that day, I just go and attack it as hard as I can, as best as I can, whatever my body allows me to do.”
Swanson has been sidelined with a strained left oblique since taking an awkward swing on Aug. 16 against the Cardinals. The initial timetable for return was estimated to be around a month and -- without prior experience with this type of injury -- Swanson decided early on that trusting Chicago’s team was smarter than letting his competitive drive fuel a rushed comeback.
Swanson has stuck to the schedule and hit every mark to this point, allowing the Cubs to map out a schedule for his return to shortstop for the ballclub. During this weekend’s series against the Pirates, Swanson will face higher-velocity pitching off the team’s Trajekt machine at Wrigley Field as the next step in his hitting progression.
If everything goes well on the hitting side of things in the coming days, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa should follow. The I-Cubs have their final homestand this weekend, but after Monday’s off-day the team hits the road for six games against Omaha to close out their regular season.
“There’s not a lot of time left,” Counsell said. “We’re going to do less games than more, for sure.”
Getting Swanson back will be important for the Cubs’ defense.
While Nico Hoerner -- a two-time Gold Glover at second base -- has played a solid shortstop with a handful of spectacular plays mixed in, there has been a slight drop-off in the play up the middle. The combination of Pedro Ramírez and Matt Shaw at second base has been fine, but the Swanson-Hoerner tandem is arguably the top combo in baseball.
“When you’re missing a defender like Dansby,” Counsell said recently, “your defense is going to get worse. He’s a great defender.”
Hoerner knew as much going into his assignment as Swanson’s fill-in during the IL stint.
“There’s no replacing Dansby,” Hoerner said at the time. “Yeah, I think our team’s in a good place to handle it, but I think you’re also going to feel just how valuable Dansby is in his absence, right? That’s a hard thing to cover.”
Entering play Wednesday, Hoerner had posted +9 outs above average with a +8 fielding run value at second base, with Ramírez (0 OAA and -1 FRV) and Shaw (-1 OAA and -1 FRV) holding their own at the position. Hoerner (0 OAA and 0 FRV) was doing his part at shortstop, while Swanson (+16 OAA and + 11 FRV) was playing at an elite level before the injury.
“He’s obviously so gifted,” Swanson said of Hoerner. “It doesn’t take him long to settle in. The biggest thing is at short, there’s less margin for error. And that’s what me and him have talked about, just getting that rhythm back of being able to come get the ball and what it looks like catching it and throwing it to first. He’s obviously handled it just fine.
“If you gave him a full year at the position, I’m sure he’d be Gold Glove caliber.”
The Cubs have elite defense all over the diamond -- led by center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong -- and Swanson is an anchor for the infield.
Entering Wednesday, the Cubs had +64 OAA as a team this season, putting them within striking distance of the 2017 Twins (+66) for the best single-season showing in the 10 years Statcast has been tracking that metric. Chicago’s +64 FRV was tied with the 2018 D-backs for the highest rating under Statcast.
“When’s the last time you've seen a team being able to really say that defense is the identity?” Swanson said. “It’s a pretty special thing.”