For many veteran players, spring training results do not matter for a single second. However, that doesn’t mean these guys don’t want to look good at least heading into the regular season. Also, there’s no denying that Dansby Swanson is feeling some pressure after signing his massive contract this offseason and imagine what is going through his head so far in spring training as he sees how bad his numbers have been.
Again, the stats in March do no matter, but seeing your batting average staying below .100 has to mess with you to a certain point. Swanson has been struggling to get his timing down during Cactus League games. Yet, during the past two weeks or so, Swanson has been driving the ball with authority to right field and center, and on Sunday he hit his first home run of spring training.
Swanson jumped all over a 0-1 pitch in the third inning against the Kansas City Royals and blasted a two-run homer just to right of straightaway center field.
Hey, better late than never and also it would be a great time for Swanson to get back into a groove with Opening Day less than a week away.
Speaking of getting hot and hopefully keeping the good play moving forward, Patrick Wisdom hit a home run for the second game in a row.
Cody Bellinger also hit a monster dinger later on.
But honestly, the best part of Sunday’s game at Sloan Park is seeing starting second baseman Nico Hoerner back in the lineup.
Hoerner was scratched from a game earlier in the week with biceps tightness and after a few days off he was written into Saturday’s lineup, but was scratched again. Yes, I was starting to panic, thinking this biceps issue was more serious than the team was letting on, but Hoerner returned to the field on Sunday and he looks like he’s ready to go for the start of the regular season.
The Cubs are going to play two more games down in Arizona after today, both against the White Sox on Monday and Tuesday before heading back up to Chicago for Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.
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