• Faith: Christian
• Career: Athlete
• Birthday:  February 11, 1994

Dansby Swanson, born in Kennesaw, Georgia, to former Troy University athletes, always loved the Atlanta Braves. Although he leaned heavily toward baseball, he was a two-sport athlete at Marietta High School, where he earned the nickname "Three-point Swanson." Fortunately for the sport, he decided to focus on baseball up until the Colorado Rockies selected him in the 38th round of the 2012 MLB Draft.

However, he valued an education and more experience in baseball, so he opted for college baseball at Vanderbilt instead. Despite injuries in his freshman season to a broken foot, a torn labrum, and a surgically repaired shoulder, he had a breakout sophomore year that led to a national championship win and earned the 2014 College World Series Most Outstanding Player award.

In 2015, he returned to shortstop and won the Brooks Wallace Award for best collegiate shortstop. Yet, Swanson left Vanderbilt that year to join the Arizona Diamondbacks. After one season in Arizona's farm system, he was traded to the Braves as part of a prospect package sent to Atlanta to acquire Shelby Miller. That’s when destiny made sense to the player.

The following year, he became the only Atlanta rookie named to the Braves' 2017 Opening Day roster but was sent back to Triple-A that summer. Unfortunately, more injuries plagued Swanson's 2018 and 2019 seasons. It wasn’t until 2020 that Swanson knew he was in Atlanta for a reason. He signed what’s known as a “prove it” contract, which is a one-year agreement laden with incentives.

He earned them all and set a career-high with a .274 batting average and scored 49 runs, third in the MLB. The next year, the Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series, the Braves' first since 1995. Swanson also won a Gold Glove that year, his first, and was the only player in major league baseball to play all 162 games.

Shortly after the season ended, the Chicago Cubs signed Swanson as a free agent to a 7-year, $177M contract on December 22, 2022. He won his second consecutive Gold Glove at shortstop to celebrate the contract.

Dansby Swanson’s Religious Beliefs

For a player who has struggled with significant injuries, Dansby Swanson has needed faith in Christ to pull him through. Once on the "Jesus Calling" podcast, he shared that he doubted his ability when Swanson was traded to Atlanta, wondering if he was "good enough" to play with the team.

"I never really knew what anxiety and some of those things were like; I never really experienced enough of that or really knew that that's what it was," he said. "I just got humbled, you know? Humbled down to my knees." Fortunately, that phrase isn't just an idiom, like the sleepless nights and worried days; he would ask the Lord for peace.

He has spent time with a Christian therapist and plenty more time in God's Word, searching for answers to his doubts and beliefs.

"That, to me, is probably the most important thing. God does a lot of things through people for me, and I'm just so grateful that I'm able to keep that perspective, to just trust in Him and His plan, and just be able to realize what He's done for me along the way," the shortstop said.