Swanson's turbulent year ending on high note

TORONTO — From personally to professionally, Erik Swanson has endured a year he’d like to forget.

At the very least, it’s ending on a high note for the 31-year-old Toronto Blue Jays reliever.

Way back at the end of February when Swanson’s young son Toby was struck by a car outside a Clearwater Beach hotel during spring training, baseball was an afterthought.

When he returned to camp, forearm soreness slowed his ramp up and sent him to the IL to start the season, but it would get worse in late June when Swanson was demoted to Triple-A with a ghastly 9.20 ERA as the Jays’ season was spiralling.

“If I could pick one word to describe my entire year it would be challenging, for sure,” Swanson said as he leaned on the dugout railing at Rogers Centre. “From a personal standpoint to a professional standpoint, it’s just kind of been one of those years, obviously. But I think if you look back on all this, I feel like the whole demotion early on in the year, as hard as it was to hear and have that conversation, I knew at some point that I’d look back and say it needed to happen and it was probably going to be for the better.

“The demotion sucked. I was pitching terrible to start the year. I’m not a person to really sugarcoat stuff. I sucked early in the year.”

With his son making steady progress in his recovery and family at the forefront, Swanson’s mind may have been elsewhere.

Without laser focus it’s almost impossible to succeed as a big league pitcher, and when adjustments are needed, the biggest stage with the brightest lights is rarely the place to implement them.

The reset in Triple-A gave Swanson the setting he needed to take a deep breath in a lot of ways.

It also allowed him to pitch without pressure and make the fixes he needed to make.

“The biggest thing it came down to was execution,” Swanson said. "The execution simply wasn’t there, with any of my three pitches. Very inconsistent, getting myself into really bad counts, and then when I was in good counts and needed to make good two-strike pitches, wasn’t making them. Leaving two-strike pitches over the plate and they were getting clobbered. When you looked at the nuts and bolts of everything, it was pretty easy to kind of sit down and say, ‘Hey, this is what you need to do.’ Because the stuff was the same, fastball shape, velo, all that.

“It was almost overnight that I saw all of my misses go from two feet out of the zone, constantly, to now back right in around the zone. Once that happened, I knew it wouldn’t be too long until I’m back here.”

While the overall numbers on the back of his baseball card for 2024 may not look great when all is said and done, since returning to the Majors in July, it’s been close to vintage Swanson with a 2.86 ERA across 22 innings.

He’s taking solace in the fact he’s closing out a trying year on a high note.

“Being as competitive as I am, it’s going to be tough to look back after this season and see the season as a whole and say, ‘Wow, that was great,’ because at the end of day it just isn’t,” Swanson said. “But the cliché saying of it’s not how you start it’s how you finish does maybe apply.

“It’ll feel good going into the offseason knowing I’m back to doing what I do.”

To his credit, Swanson never made one excuse. Given the circumstances, he definitely could’ve.

“For us, it’s great to see him back performing at the level that we’ve kind of seen the last couple years,” manager John Schneider said. “First and foremost, going through what he went through as a father and as a husband you don’t wish on anyone and it definitely took a toll on him. Whenever your life is disrupted like that, your routine at work gets disrupted and that played a part in it along with the forearm thing. 

“What I’ve loved is he never complained, never used anything as a crutch. When we optioned him, he was quick to say, ‘Yeah, this is the right move, I’m not performing right now.’”

There are two clear-as-day reasons for why the season fell apart for Swanson and the Jays — down seasons from stars in the lineup and the bullpen completely falling apart.

Back in spring training, the high-leverage trio of Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza and Swanson were billed as a strength.

Welcome to the volatility of relievers.

Romano had elbow surgery, Mayza was waived, and Swanson’s going to finish with an ERA over 5.00.

“It really sucks, the situation we’re in, and the bullpen has been a big part of that,” Swanson said. “I feel like I can say that because I’ve been probably one of the biggest problems with that. It’s unfortunate.”

The front office has a ton of winter work to do on the ‘pen, but there will be uncertainty either way.

Can Romano regain form after surgery to repair an impingement in his throwing elbow? As a free agent following next season, the Markham, Ont., product certainly has personal motivation to do so.

Swanson, as well, will have to prove this year was just a blip.

“We definitely have thoughts and plans, but I think what Swanny has shown is exactly what you’re looking for — a guy who can handle righties and lefties equally well and strike guys out at a pretty high rate,” Schneider said. “That’s kind of what we’re looking for back there when we are building a team for next year and we want to see him finish the season strong and put himself in a spot to be part of it next year.”

One thing he won’t have to worry about next spring is the health of his son.

“He’s doing great,” Swanson relayed with a smile. “He started his first day of school (earlier this month) so he was all pumped up about that. He’s doing amazing. He’s made a full recovery and we’re very, very blessed and couldn’t ask for more.”