8:50PM: Infielder Rodolfo Castro will be optioned to Triple-A to make space for Swaggerty on the 26-man roster, Mackey reports (Twitter link).
7:25PM: The Pirates are calling up outfielder Travis Swaggerty, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Swaggerty will officially join the active roster prior to tomorrow’s game, and is likely in line to make his Major League debut. No 40-man move is required, as Swaggerty was already added to Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster back in November.
The 10th overall pick of the 2018 draft, Swaggerty received some top-100 attention from Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline in advance of the 2019 season. However, his stock dropped after only an okay year at high-A ball in 2019, no minor league baseball at all in 2020 due to the canceled season, and then a 2021 that was cut short after only 12 games due to shoulder surgery.
Starting the 2022 campaign again at Triple-A Indianapolis, Swaggerty has performed well to date, hitting .280/.362/.439 over 150 plate appearances, with four home runs. This promising start could help answer lingering doubts about Swaggerty’s bat, as both MLB Pipeline (who rank Swaggerty 13th in Pittsburgh’s farm system) and Baseball America (25th) cite the 24-year-old’s lack of any real track record at the plate. Swaggerty was showing some improvement due to some adjustments at the plate even as late as the 2019 campaign, but BA’s scouting report considers him “an open question” due to what was essentially two lost seasons.
Swaggerty’s hitting may determine whether or not he can become a regular at the MLB level, but he could stick around as a fourth outfielder based on plus glovework alone. Bryan Reynolds’ presence would seem to block Swaggerty from the center field job in Pittsburgh, though since Swaggerty has a strong throwing arm, he could also be deployed as a right fielder. Swaggerty joins Jack Suwinski, Tucupita Marcano, and Calvin Mitchell as left-handed hitting young outfielders on the Pirates roster, though it would seem plausible that any of these players could be optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move for Swaggerty’s promotion.
With plenty of veterans (including outfielders Ben Gamel and Jake Marisnick) on the injured list, the Pirates have had to dip in their farm system numerous times already in the first two months of the season. Given that the Bucs are still in the midst of a rebuild, it is quite possible that Swaggerty or any of these other youngsters would’ve gotten the call at some point anyway, and this opportunity gives Swaggerty a chance to establish himself as a building block.
Swaggerty swooty comin’ for that booty.
Is he playing baseball or making adult films?
Swaggerty has like a 200 wRC+ since coming off the injured list in early May. Definitly deserves the promotion.
RF has been a revolving door. Give this kid a real look and hopefully he delivers.
He’s honestly probably a better CF than Reynolds, even though they wouldn’t move Reynolds for a rookie, at least at first
Cruz is next. He’s been spanking the ball after a poor start.
oh look at that.. a team actually still named the indians
Shhh, quiet before the woke hear.
Uh oh, you just woke up some faux outrage from “activists”…
What team are you talking about? There’s no team named the Indians in the above article.
The ignoramus with his little entourage thinks he’s being smart and funny because the AAA team is in “Indianapolis”. It’s ok though, I’m sure they all feel like big, strong MEN after all of it.
The New Orleans Hornets became the Pelicans and no one lost their minds over it because there was no racism to defend.
Racists understand that any chipping away gets closer to them…
“First, they came for Aunt Jemima and Chief Wahoo…and then they came for me.”
And thank you for proving our point and making yourself look like what you’re calling forwhom.
The hornets became the pelicans because the NBA wanted to give the hornets name back to the city of Charlotte
Indianapolis were Swag was playing.
I want Swaggerty and Sam Haggerty on the same team.
I prefer the White Sox combo of Burger and Fry
I’ve never seen a player skip AA. That’s a first.
Now DFA VanMeter and call up Bae.
Bae got the backlash from the domestic violence
Good. Castro has made enough mistakes here. Some talent but raw. Seems like a low IQ player in all honesty. They were actually short a real OF. Castillo can get more time and Marcano can play in the IF
Castro reminds me an awful lot of Polanco
Castro needs how to be a major league baseball player and keep his head in the game. He’s the one who didn’t run to first on a infield pop and resulted in a double play.
Swaggerty is the best defensive outfielders in the pirate system. I think he could easily bump Reynolds over
I don’t know about that.
Childish avi, grow up.
Forwhomjoshbelltrolledtrumpsanus
Swaggerty’s glove is really freaking good, but Lonnie White Jr. has the edge in range. Not by very much because they’re both well above average runners, but White Jr. has elite speed while Swaggerty has great speed.
You have amazing knowledge and insight about minor league prospects, mlb. Much appreciated
I remember Lonnie coming out of high school. They thought the kid would opt for football
Seems to have speed and power but hasn’t really shown he can hit for average yet. Any other insights?
Not really a “local kid” per se, but rooting for a young guy from the region nonetheless
I think the whole “hit for contact” thing for Swaggerty is really overblown. He had a .200 batting average on balls in play during the small sample size last season. Here’s how I see it. Since the second half of 2019, Swaggerty is a .289/.370/.447 hitter with a .371 wOBA, and 133 wRC+. I think he’s one of the most underrated prospects in our system. Dude has the potential to be a .260/.350/.450 hitter who can have a 20/20 season, and compete for a Gold Glove in center.
Appreciate all that, mlb, and agree. I was really referring to Lonnie. Any Intel on him, too?
@mlb similar to Andy VanSlyke
I’d put Swaggerty in center. I think e’s better defensively in the first place but probably more importantly Reynolds needs to heat up at the plate and moving him to a less demanding defensive position might help.
Big question is where they play all these guys with Mitchell, Suwinski, and Reynolds also up (plus Gamel on the shelf). IMO, let the kids play and use one as the DH. Gamel can play 1B as I recall; use him there on days you’re playing all of the other outfielders and play Chavis at 2B. Gamel likely gets traded not long after he’s back. Same goes for Vogelbach. Both are probably at the peak of their trade value.
Cruz hopefully is next to come up.
Regarding Castro, good raw talent but needs a lot of coaching.
You need 4 outfielders. Mitchell if not improving will be sent down when Gamel returns. Gamel will be traded by deadline.
Dream-Mitchell needs more time in AAA.Suwinski May depending on if he can start hitting for average.He seems to have good power though which would be welcome on this team.
Marisnick really impressed with his defense but there may not be room for him if Swaggerty can continue to play well.He may need more time in AAA- we shall see.
Not sure where Allen fits in here when he comes off the IL.
Reynolds does not seem to like even years.
I do not like to trade good players even if they will becomes FA’s unless they can get a bona fide prospect in return.
Good that Castro was sent down as this should be a learning experience that he is not good enough to not hustle.
Are they nearing the point where literally any “veteran”/journeyman can be pedaled now? VanMeter, sure, but Gamel, Newman, Tsutsugo? Is Chavis part of their future? There are others like Marisnik who are one-dimensional, at best
I guess my question is, could they conceivably dump all of the journeymen to open roster spots right now?
I really enjoyed the Dodgers series and seeing the young, energetic players and not watching journeyman like Tsutsugo or big fat pigs clogging up the DH. And i’m really really tired of Gamel and Marisnick slowing down when lining up a fly ball so they can needlessly dive for it. When they get healthy, i’m all for cutting them loose
Tired- the Pirates still have a number of players on the ML roster who in my opinion are not really ML players.They can get rid of them first.
The players mentioned will be eventually gone but still may prove to be useful in the short term.The key is that they do not block young players who deserve to be in MLB from getting experience there.The Pirates May be there by the end of this year or early next year when they have had time to figure out which prospects are real and which ones are not.We all know that they have made errors in the past on this subject.
Their minor league system does not have so many blue chip prospects at the AAA level so that they can “dump” all of theitr tradeable players now.
Dare say it,but they are not actually that far from the last wild card which seems to be about an 84-78 record.They have improved over the last month,and if the recent and planned call ups produce,and the starters continue to get better,and guys like Suwinski get better,and Reynolds is told that this in effect is actually an odd numbered year,I think that they would have an outside chance to compete for it.
And that would be great for the team and the City of Pittsburgh,and for fans like you and I.
Much appreciated as always, Mendoza. I asked this below but will re-up here: We don’t hear much about Pirates stud pitchers in the minors beyond Contreras, who looks like the real deal. Are there any starters of note on the horizon?
I didn’t answer because I am not really up on giving an intelligent and knowledgeable response..
I would rather be quiet and thought stupid that to write and remove all doubt.
I was sorry to see the proverbial TJ with Kranick as while he was fairly bad last year after his great start in his first game but he looked very good in ST and pitched well in his two relief games.The 4 MPH fastball uptick served him well until it helped to bring on the need for TJ.
Cederlind and Mears should be ready to pitch in the near future and hopefully are not set back too far in the rehab for TJ.I am not sure whether they are starters.
Mlodzewleski (sp) is highly thought of by those who follow the farm system.
I liked Yajure but he has had a tough year this year.
De Jong seems to me to be the next up if they need a starter.
I still think that Wilson can still be a good pitcher but he seemed to fare better in relief than starting.
Dream GM knows a lot more about the young players than me.
@Mendoza Line 215 Not sure more AAA time will help Mitchell much. He earned a MLB look. Gamel will be traded for anything useful, dsl lotto ticket or A ball reliever. Hopefully more but if any team is interested the slightest he is gone. Allen could use a look. Marisnick is at bottom of chain. Easy dfa if everyone is healthy.
@tiredolddude Yoshi is only around because they gave him 4 million and has some power potential in there somewhere but mostly the 4 million.
They improved VanMeter not sure why most still hate on him. They don’t have 26 better players than him.
Newman is by far their best ss and the hitting was improved this year.
Chavis is part of the future until he stops hitting or starts making real money.
Marisnick is a dfa waiting to happen.
No need to make roster room by throwing out veterans. Injuries and trades will take care of that.
@bucsfan0004 Some of those catches required the dive. Some could have been showmanship which is fine with me as people are paying to be entertained. Some guys prefer the diving or sliding vs make a low full sprint catch.
@tiredolddude prospect ranking sites are undervaluing them. Pirates don’t have a blue chip ace but about a dozen guys who could be mid rotation or better. You will see some top 100 pitchers when these sites finally catch up or have no choice to rank them there. Bolton Burrows Jones all look promising. Priester just needs to stay healthy, more innings and some polish. Ortiz has a chance. Malone just can’t stay healthy but has the stuff. Solometo Chandler are too young and far away to worry about but upside and talent is there. Current rotation is solid enough. Thompson is decent enough for the 4 or 5 spot. I think Keller Brubaker would look better with a new team. I can imagine other teams would love to buy low on them.
Thanks DreamGM, Mendoza, for the info. Really appreciated. Between your info and the past couple weeks, maybe there really is some hope
Tired-There is always hope.
I am still hoping that Raquel Welch or Ann Margret will return one of my million phone calls.
I do think that the minor leagues are much more full than in any remotely recent years.I give BC credit for that.
I knew GM would know about the minor league pitchers.He is very knowledgeable about the young players coming up.
I do think that the Pirates are gradually getting better but of course they hit rock bottom in 2020.
I will take GM’s word for it that there are no stud pitchers in the minors.But if they have a very deep rotation in the future that would mean that they can withstand the injuries that we all know will happen.
But as I have said before in order to compete for the WS you must have superstars and front of the rotation pitches to go deep into the playoffs.
As both of us as Middle Agers + we know realistically that that will be a very hard course to row.
You guys should have plenty hope. They already have a farm system capable of producing playoff contending teams. Only hope is that a prospect or 2 ends up being a star and they become a world series contender. BC done about as good as he could do. Was no guaranteed super star available #1 overall. Didn’t have a player trade worthy of that elite prospect. Few trade chips were hurt at the 2020 deadline even. Rebuild really didn’t start until 2021 season as Marte was only meaningful trade chip traded year 1. They don’t have a top 10 20 or even 50 pitching prospect but all it takes is for a guy to add 2 more mph or 1 coach to figure out how to improve that change up. It’s nice to have a guy pitch to a under 3 era but you only need 4 guys to get under 4. The mlb team is injury proof, depth at every position other than 1b. They are only worried about player development and service time right now. Having Contreras pitch all year instead of Wilson and dfaing Yoshie a month ago would have produced more wins no doubt. Or giving Tucker yet another audition. I expect a winning record by 2025 or you can trash me and BC needs to be fired. I actually expect it to happen in 2024. 2023 won’t surprise me if they decide to go for it and I hope they do.
Dream-I had been reading several years ago that 2022 would be the year that they became competitive which of course does not tell you much.I had been happy at the beginning of the year to win 71 games which would be a 10 game improvement over last year and 20 over the equivalent for 2020.
At this point that would mean 81 for next year which of course is close to being a winning record.
I really do think that Nutting needs to start spending money on at least a couple of middle tier free agents this coming year.One thing that has really hurt them since the second half of 2019 is that they have had no pitching depth which kills them when they have to bring up AAAA and AAA pitchers,They need to address that before the season in signing guys like Tyler Anderson.
I believe it was Underwood who basically implied that it would be good to have some experienced players that could be relied upon for player advice,I would not be adverse to bringing back Cutch for a year in that regard as it seems that his playing days are coming to a close.
I think that they need to clearly have a solid winning team by the end of next year.By that I mean a team that has a very good chance to make the playoffs. If not next year then 2024.
I see several teams in the American League especially that have not had close to a winning season for five or six years.I had felt bad for them before 2019 but of course the second half of that year was dreadful for the Pirates.
What tiredolddude and I have in common though is hearing the promises of good young players and excellent teams and they have not come to fruition as playoff teams essentially since at least 1992.
As I told him thought here is always hope and while I feel bad for the A’s and Reds at least the Pirates seem to have kept to their overall plan.
Thanks for the comments young man.
Always good to talk. Stop reading whatever source you are reading. Nobody completes a full rebuild in 2 years even without a virus shutting down the minor leagues an entire season. Usually takes at least 4 years. I am extremely bold even considering it can be done in 3.
Given lack of depth at 1B and the reported difficulties he’s had at SS and in playing OF spots, I’m wondering if playing Cruz some there would make some sense. I also wonder if all of that kind of shifting crushes a young player’s confidence, of course
I think that the problem with Cruz is that he thinks that he is a shortstop,and he does not want to play anywhere else.They May have to play him there for a few games to see if he can cut it there,but then be very blunt with him when he fails.Winning teams do not have 937 fielding shortstops.Shifting I think hurt Tucker but he had other troubles.I think that Cruz is hard headed and not amenable to any change away from shortstop.
It would be a shame to lose his arm at first base.
If he can cut it in right field that would be his best position.I do not see Mitchell as anything more than a fourth outfielder albeit possibly a good one.If Suwinski keeps on getting better he may not need to go to AAA where he has never been.
Too many outfielders would be the least of their problems.
Martin will get a chance at first base once Yoshi is released.Chavis does a good job there no matter how tall he is.
Tired-This is what happens when we start getting our hopes up.
Shame on us.
Dude-good post.
However,hopefully you are different than the photo shown on you post.
If not,seeing you drive your Acura would certainly give me “ paws”.
Chavis/Gamel/Yoshi (unfortunately) at first. Chavis/Marcano/VanMeter (unfortunately) at second. Castillo/Marcano at short. Hayes at third. Reynolds/Swaggerty/Mitchell OF with Suwinski as the fourth. Still not a good team but getting younger and better as the year goes on which was the point of this season.
Suwinski likely plays over Mitchell.
It’s definitely better than what was showing at the season opener. Just because it looks bad on paper, doesn’t mean the team just got worse. These injuries is what the Pirates and these kids needed. It’s going to be interesting
Pirates 2022
So suddenly, the decision to play the kids has become a reality. It’s about time. Now it’s time to jettison guys who are castoffs from other teams and who are just taking up space
The question is, beyond Contreras, is there any starting pitcher in the minors on the cusp of being a big leaguer? I know the Pirates starters have been doing a bit better lately but trades (Quintana) and injuries happen
swag’s bat has been decent this year. “maybe” the time off helped that.
His defense is where he excels though