While multiple players are seeing success early in their MLB career or early in the minor league season, a number of top prospects have had a rough start to the 2017 season.
Taking a look around the Call To The Pen top MLB prospects list from January, it is notable that many prospects have been off to a tough start to open 2017. We’ll take a look at 8 of the top 35 that are off to notable rough starts, starting with the guy in the headline photo for this post…
Dansby Swanson, Atlanta Braves
Swanson was the 1A of the Braves face of the franchise in their move to their new stadium this season along with veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman. While Freeman has really taken a huge step toward being a superstar, Swanson has shuffled at the plate in his first full major league season.
The #4 prospect on our preseason list, he is the only member of the top 10 in that list to appear on this post, though multiple members of that top 10 have been injured and/or not yet played in 2017 to either succeed or struggle.
Swanson is currently hitting .150/.225/.220 with 2 home runs and a stolen base, with a 9% walk rate and a 24.3% strikeout rate. This after posting a .302/.361/.442 line in his 38-game MLB audition last fall for the Braves.
While some have noted his strikeout rate as a concern, it should be noted that Swanson had nearly identical walk and strikeout rates last season in the major leagues (9%, 23.4%) and a similar walk rate with an expected 5% lower strikeout rate in AA last season (9.3%, 18.8%).
The real big reason behind this is evident. Swanson is currently sporting a .181 BABIP. While Swanson is not a guy who will likely hit 30 home runs, he does hit the ball hard on a line, and that has typically led to a .310-.330 BABIP. His .383 BABIP from last season was higher than would be expected, but the .181 is tremendously low, and it would not surprise at all to see him kick up soon with balls bouncing more his way.