Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect in MLB Pipeline Top 100 List

#75- Travis Swaggerty, Outfielder

Last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates made Travis Swaggerty their first-round pick.  He was the first outfielder taken in the first round by the Pittsburgh Pirates since Austin Meadows in 2013. Unlike Meadows, Swaggerty was taken out of the college ranks from the University of South Alabama.  He was considered the top all-around college outfield bat available and fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates at tenth overall.

Swaggerty was known for his all-around game coming out of college.  He was noted for his speed and power combination, one that was compared to Brett Gardner.  The Bucs paid a signing bonus in hope that he will become a player like Gardner, with Swaggerty getting $4.4 million.

After he signed, Swaggerty was assigned to the Short-Season A West Virginia Black Bears.  He had a strong début with the Black Bears, batting .288/.365/.453 in 36 games.  He had four home runs, nine doubles, and one triple along with nine stolen bases.  One area of struggle is that he did strike out 40 times in 36 games.

The Pittsburgh Pirates promoted Swaggerty to Low-A for their playoff run.  He did not find much success in his 16 games with the Power.  He only hit .129/.225/.226 with one double, one triple, and one home run.  He also struck out more than once a game again with 18 strikeouts in 16 games played, although his struggles could have been just from playing more baseball than he ever had consecutively.  Still, the overall projection of power and speed leads to him being on the Top 100 List.