Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson heating up by simplifying approach at plate

PHILADELPHIA — Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson needed to get out of his own head.When he was in a slump, Swanson used to watch endless videos in an effort to identify the problem. A player who stands out defensively because of his tremendous instincts and reactions had become too mechanical at the plate.During the offseason, Swanson worked on mindfulness. He wanted to quiet the self-created noise in his head by simplifying his approach at the plate and avoiding tinkering.‘‘The biggest thing is trusting myself and getting out of a space of overthinking [and] just going out there and really just trusting my ability,’’ Swanson told the Sun-Times.After finishing with a 105 weighted runs created-plus in 2023 — 100 represents the major-league average — Swanson finished at 97 in 2024 and 99 last season. A member of the vaunted class of free-agent shortstops in 2022, the Cubs had bet on Swanson’s mix of athleticism and defense aging well through his early 30s.The underlying numbers didn’t portend an immediate decline, but Swanson — who has had four seasons of 20 or more home runs in his career — thought he was leaving some production on the table. To be the best version of himself, he had to do some serious self-evaluation in the offseason.‘‘I’m a pretty stubborn person, so that took its own work,’’ he said. ‘‘It was about removing myself a little bit.’’That required Swanson to overhaul his view of hitting. He no longer could be beholden to expected numbers or obsessed…

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