Dansby Swanson (28), who was considered one of the “Big 4 shortstops” in the American Major League (MLB) free agent (FA) market this year, will settle for the Chicago Cubs.
Foreign media such as MLB.com, the official homepage of Major League Baseball, announced on the 18th (Korean time) that Swanson agreed to terms with the Cubs for a contract period of 7 years and a total of 177 million dollars (approximately 231.8 billion won). It is also known that Swanson’s former club veto trade was included. It is the second-largest contract in Cubs history. The highest amount recorded by Jason Heyward after the 2015 season was 184 million dollars (approximately 241 billion won) in 8 years.
Swanson was selected 1st overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the June 2015 draft. He was traded to the Atlanta Braves in December of that year. The following year, in 2016, he made his big league debut. Since 2017, he has been rooting for the starting shortstop. Based on his overwhelming defensive ability, he became the best shortstop in the league as well as Atlanta.
He appeared in 827 games over a total of seven seasons in the big leagues, batting average of 0.255, 775 hits, 102 home runs, 411 RBIs, and 433 runs scored. Last year, in 160 regular season games, he had a batting average of 0.248 (146 hits in 588 at-bats), 27 homers and 88 RBIs, but he helped Atlanta win the World Series. He raised the record with a batting average of 0.277 (177 hits in 640 at-bats), 25 homers and 96 RBIs in 162 games this season. He beat Korean major leaguer Kim Ha-seong (San Diego) and others to win the Gold Glove in the National League (NL) shortstop category. He is expected to continue playing with the Cubs from next year. 스포츠토토
Swanson was the last of the big four shortstops to announce the contract. Previously, Trey Turner left the Los Angeles Dodgers and joined hands with the Philadelphia Phillies for 300 million dollars (approximately 393 billion won) in 11 years. Boston Red Sox’s Xander Bogarts signed an 11-year, $280 million (approximately 366.8 billion won) contract with the San Diego Padres. Carlos Correa is the highest paid shortstop in the history of the big leagues. He took off the Minnesota Twins uniform and transferred to the San Francisco Giants for 13 years and 350 million dollars (458.5 billion won).