Why Swanson's return to LA as All-Star is so fitting

ATLANTA -- Three months after leaving Dodger Stadium mired in one of the most frustrating stretches of his career, Dansby Swanson returns to the iconic ballpark this week as a first-time All-Star and legit National League MVP candidate.

• MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard: Tuesday on FOX

“It was definitely kind of a reset button leaving there [in April],” Swanson said. “It was kind of like the start of a new season in my head. We had an off-day when we got back, and I was like, ‘The heck with it, it’s the first 14 [games] and who cares?’ I knew I was just going to get back to doing what I do best.”

Swanson persevered through the first two weeks of this season and then began the productive run that earned him the honor to be on the National League team for this year’s All-Star Game, which will be played Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Max Fried, Ronald Acuña Jr., Travis d’Arnaud, William Contreras, Austin Riley and Swanson are the six players who will represent the Braves at the Midsummer Classic. Because the Braves won last year’s World Series, Brian Snitker and his coaches will also make up a majority of the NL’s coaching staff.

As Swanson has lived up to the potential set when the D-backs took him with the first overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, he has fed off the positive vibes provided by his fiancée, Mallory Pugh, who has become one of the world’s top soccer players while playing for the United States National Women’s Team.

“She said that to my parents during the first part of the season, and they were just kind of like, ‘OK, we’ll see,” Swanson said. “It’s just a credit to a lot of the work that has been put in and a lot of people who have helped me along the way.”

While Swanson looks forward to the entire All-Star experience, he will miss Monday’s portion of the event. The Braves shortstop will spend the day in Mexico, where the US women are expected to play in the championship game of a World Cup qualifier. He and Pugh will travel to Los Angeles in time to enjoy the festivities leading up to Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

“It’s going to be a whirlwind of a couple of days, but I’ve never really been able to be there for her, during her big moments,” Swanson said. “It was kind of like one of those things where I have to be there.”

When Swanson and the Braves exited Dodger Stadium on Aug. 20, he was hitting just .143 with a .432 OPS. He had a 41.5 strikeout percentage and a -0.2 fWAR (Fangraphs’ Wins Above Replacement model), which was the 13th-worst mark produced by a NL player in that span.

“Anything [Swanson] gets, he deserves,” Braves right-hander Kyle Wright said. “He works for it all. He’s a winner. He hates losing. Whenever we lose, he just seems to get after it. I feel like that’s when he steps up and continues to play better.”

Like when they were together at Vanderbilt, Wright has enjoyed seeing Swanson take his game to another level. Going back to April 22, Swanson ranks among the top five NL players in batting average and top 10 NL players in OPS.

When Swanson packed his bags to leave Atlanta on Thursday, he ranked fourth among NL players with 4.1 fWAR. He ranked just ahead of good friend and former Braves teammate Freddie Freeman. The only players ahead of him were Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt.

“The plays he's made defensively to keep games close or to keep us in the lead or and the game have been incredible,” d’Arnaud said. “His baserunning has been incredible, and obviously his offense has spoken for itself. I wish somehow with WAR they could value clubhouse leadership, which for [Swanson] has been through the roof.”