5 Pittsburgh Pirates prospects whose careers were derailed by injuries

Travis Swaggerty

The first position player on this list, Travis Swaggerty, once flashed five-tool potential early in his minor-league career with the Pirates. A former 2018 first-round pick, Swaggerty looked like he could have been a 20/20 threat with Gold Glove-level defense in the grass.

Swaggerty got off to a cold start in 2019, but was in full swing of it by the middle of the season. From the beginning of June through the end of the year, the outfield prospect hit .328/.396/.469 with a .398 wOBA and robust 158 wRC+ through 219 plate appearances. Swaggerty had both a respectable 9.6% walk rate and an 18.3% strikeout rate, with the only genuine criticism being that he didn’t hit for much power. He had just a .141 ISO, but when you’re batting well above .300 with an OBP approaching .400, that's a pretty minor blemish. Swaggerty definitely showed off raw power, but struggled to lift the ball and had a 49.3% ground ball rate. However, at just 21 years old at the time, he had plenty of time to fix his swing and hit for more pop.

In 2021, not only did Swaggerty pick up where he left off, but he finally started to hit for more power. He hit three home runs, with six walks and eight Ks through his first 48 plate appearances. The raw power he flashed in his previous season was starting to translate into game power, as he started to lift the ball more frequently, getting his ground ball rate below 40%. He had just a .200 batting average on balls in play, which definitely would have leveled out if he'd played more.

Unfortunately, after just 12 games, Swaggerty underwent shoulder surgery, which halted his season then and there. This shoulder injury seemingly took away his ability to lift the ball. While Swaggerty returned for 2022, his ground ball rate shot back up to 50.2%, and he posted the lowest fly ball rate of his career at a meager 30.8%. Swaggerty did make his MLB debut, but only appeared in five games with nine plate appearances.

Swaggerty then entered camp in 2023 with a chance to win a roster spot as the team’s fourth outfielder. To his credit, Swaggerty had an outstanding spring training, hitting three dingers and collecting 11 total hits. with five walks and just seven Ks in 34 plate appearances. Unfortunately, Canaan Smith-Njigba had an even better spring, and beat Swaggerty out for the final roster spot.

While Smith-Njigba would struggle in his first extended look in MLB, Swaggerty couldn’t be called upon for many reasons. The first was that he was injured yet again. Swaggerty played just 17 games in April before landing on the IL. The second reason was even more unfortunate and tragic. Swaggerty’s wife was suffering from a rare blood disease that had been caused by a rabid raccoon attack over a year prior. The Pirates eventually released Swaggerty, and while he was signed by the Chicago White Sox, his attention remained aimed toward his wife and family’s wellbeing, and rightfully so.

While off-field personal issues definitely played a role in Swaggerty’s derailment, the shoulder injury he suffered in 2021 clearly affected his game, too. After making progress toward making better contact, he had serious trouble lifting the ball after his injury, a real shame for a potential standout player. Swaggerty looked like a possible Gold Glove center fielder who could've provided some pop and stolen bases for the Pirates, who remain on the hunt for outfield solutions to this day.