Pittsburgh Pirates to Promote Travis Swaggerty

The youth movement of the Pittsburgh Pirates is set to continue with the promotion of outfield prospect, and former first-round pick, Travis Swaggerty

The youth movement of the Pittsburgh Pirates is continuing. According to multiple reports, Travis Swaggerty is set to join the Pirates ahead of Sunday afternoon’s series finale at PNC Park against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Swaggerty will be the latest highly touted Pirate prospect promoted in recent weeks.

Swaggerty was the 10th overall selection of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Pirates. Had it not been for an early season shoulder injury, odds are, the Pittsburgh Pirates would have promoted Swaggerty to the majors at some point last season.

After a slow start to the season, which included a stint on the concussion injured list, Swaggerty had been red hot the past few weeks for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. Overall on the season, Swaggerty was hitting for a .280/.362/.439 slash line with the Indians to go with a 117 wRC+. He had walked in a strong 11.3% of his trips to the plate. Despite a 28.0% strikeout rate, Swaggerty had still collected extra bases at a 9.3% rate. This included 4 home runs.

There are few outfielders in the Pirate farm system with a higher ceiling than Swaggerty. In addition to being a hitter with strong on-base skills and potentially plus power, he also projects as a plus defensive outfielder. A center field, and a good one, by trait, he could be a very strong defensive left fielder in PNC Park’s large left field. Look for Swaggerty to be in the lineup Sunday afternoon as the Pirates go for a series victory over the Diamondbacks.

Hopefully Swaggerty will find every day playing time with the Pittsburgh Pirates. There is little reason to promote a prospect like Swaggerty before that is the case. After all, Swaggerty is a former first-round pick with sky high potential as a MLB outfielder.