Dansby Swanson and his glorious hair hustled for an inside-the-parker, his first career homer
The
Swanson entered Tuesday night's 9-7 loss to the Nats hitting .236/.283/.273 with two doubles and no home runs -- but he quickly changed that zero to a one with a slick inside-the-park homer that saw his helmet bail as he approached third base -- a move that freed up his flowing hair to be on full display for all to see:
But back to that homer. The combination of his speed, a perfect carom off the wall in right-center and Swanson's all-or-nothing path around the bases made this happen, as did the fact that there were two outs in the inning and the Braves' starter,
Dansby Swanson's inside-the-park HR, via @statcast: 20.6 mph top speed, 14.97-second home-to-home time.
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) September 6, 2016
In a fun twist, this wasn't the first time Swanson hit an inside-the-park home run for his first blast at an organizational level:
Wild, Swanson's first career HR in Double-A was also an inside-the-parker
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) September 6, 2016
That Double-A homer, hit during his time with the Mississippi Braves, was one of two Swanson hit in the Minors in 2016 -- the other coming with the Class A Advanced Carolina Mudcats.
For visual reference, here's his Carolina one:
As well as the Mississippi Braves edition:
Swanson discussed his new penchant for inside-the-parkers with MLB.com's Mark Bowman after Tuesday's game:
"I don't think you can really even imagine that. What's funny is I've never hit an inside-the-park homer before and now I have three this year."
As for his thought process rounding the bases, Swanson shared credit with the Nats' third-base coach, Bo Porter:
"I knew I hit it good and I was rounding first and then I saw it ricochet. So, I knew for sure I was getting a triple. Judging from the crowd reaction, I was just going until (third-base coach Bo Porter) was going to stop me. He's the third-base coach and he's there for a reason So, I just trusted him."
So, you may be wondering, who else hit inside-the-parkers for their first career homers? In recent years, it's happened a few times with Tigers catcher
Sure, anybody can hit the ball over the fence these days -- but an inside-the-parker as your first career long ball? That's a special thing, and it's now one Swanson can add to his baseball resume.
Along with that hair, of course.