Staumont faced the Carolina Mudcats, Atlanta's high-A affiliate, who brought two of the team's best hitting prospects with them in Dansby Swanson and Braxton Davidson ... neither of whom particularly enjoyed the experience of facing Staumont, with Swanson striking out swinging on fastballs and Davidson working two long at-bats that ended in swinging strikeouts, one on a breaking ball at his back foot and one on a fastball up. Davidson's approach is excellent in terms of ball-strike recognition, but he needs to be more aggressive when he gets ahead in the count, which was a problem Monday, less so on Wednesday where he jumped on a first-pitch changeup for a single, then fell behind in his next at bat by swinging earlier in the count only to get a hit on a 1-2 breaking ball.
Swanson's bat speed is still intact and he showed the ability to make hard contact that made him the first overall pick in 2015, as well as the above-average defense at shortstop, but his base at the plate is still too wide and he turns his hips early, which might be part of why he started swinging and missing against the one major-league caliber arm (Staumont) he faced in the games I saw. I wouldn't change anything about my previous reports on him, but would like to see him narrow his stance slightly to see if it helps his timing, which so far has only mattered against better velocity.
