The Pirates announced several roster moves today, selecting the contract of right-hander Quinn Priester and recalling prospects Endy Rodríguez and Liover Peguero, moves which were reported on over the weekend. In corresponding moves, they optioned catcher Jason Delay, right-hander Cody Bolton and outfielder Josh Palacios. In order to open a 40-man roster spot for Priester, outfielder Travis Swaggerty was designated for assignment.
Swaggerty, 25, was the club’s first round draft pick in 2018, getting selected with the 10th overall pick. He was considered one of their top prospects during his time in the minors but encountered some obstacles on his path to the majors. He suffered a dislocated shoulder in 2021 that required surgery, limiting him to 12 games that year. When combined with the minor leagues being cancelled by the pandemic in 2020, he essentially missed two whole years of normal development.
Those setbacks aside, the club still didn’t want to risk losing him in the 2021 Rule 5 draft and gave him a 40-man roster spot that November. He was able to make his major league debut last year but took just nine trips to the plate in five games. He spent most of the year in Triple-A, hitting .254/.348/.399 at that level for a wRC+ of 102.
Here in 2023, Swaggerty has spent the entire year in the minors but has only been able to play 22 games. A report from Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from last month detailed how Swaggerty has been battling vertigo and migraines while his wife Peyton has been dealing with a rare and painful blood disease caused by a bite from a rabid raccoon. Swaggerty has made frequent trips to the IL in the minors this year, having played in just one game in the past six weeks.
The Bucs have fully embraced their youth movement this year, calling up Priester, Rodríguez and Peguero today, in addition to recent promotions of players like Henry Davis, Jared Triolo and Nick Gonzales. The unfortunate side effect of those aggressive promotions is that they will bump Swaggerty off the roster.
They will now have one week to trade the young outfielder or pass him through waivers. It will be interesting to see how much interest he will receive from other clubs around the league. On the one hand, he’s a former first-round pick and was a notable prospect not too long ago. But he’s faced so many difficulties and hasn’t seemed to be in peak form in quite a while. He does have two option years, one of which he’s burning here in 2023. If some club thinks they can help him figure out the migraine issues and get him back on track, he can still be sent to the minors for another season.
And the Pirate officially lose their Swagger…
really harsh path so far for a guy who seemed a lock to at least play good defense in the OF and swipe bags.
Kinda reminded me of Grady Sizemore.
hopefully he gets his life back on track. I think out of respect, he should go to whatever team is closest to where he needs to be, whether it’s pittsburgh(affiliate) or elsewhere.
still only 25. wish him the best
Needed a bit more Flair
Delay took his time leaving but Bolton shot out of there quick.
Feel bad for Swaggerty. Has had vertigo issues for a while. Has already missed a ton of time.
He was their 1st Round pick in 2018, another example MLb draft is a crapshoot.
To be fair, if you look back, that entire 2018 draft was crap. Maybe two guys out of that entire first round will make it long term
I think Delay will be back next year as the backup catcher. Hedges will be gone and Davis is not a catcher. I have never thought much of Swaggerty. He had lots of hype but very limited production.
look at his numbers before the injury
If the Pirates lose patience with you and can’t find a place for your 6 plus years of team control and league minimum salary there is a good chance it’s time to find a new profession.
maybe it’s time for you to grow a semblance of compassion King of Cuds, excuse me, Cards.
You are without a doubt, one of the most ignorant people to post on Pirate articles
Maybe you should read the rest of the comments in this thread.
The Pirates organization are the ones who DFAd him. Maybe they are the ones lacking compassion instead of the random guy you don’t know that doesn’t make decisions for the Pirates.
To be fair, the pirates honestly don’t have room for the guy despite his past prospect pedigree. For one, he is unfortunately unable to stay on the field with various injuries and ailments. Also they are calling up prospects left and right with tons of potential, from staffing the 26 man roster to protecting future pieces from the Rule V draft, swaggerty just happened to be the casualty. The reason they couldn’t keep him is because they have so many promising pieces, the exact opposite of what of what you are suggesting. The Pirates look to be a dangerous team in the near future, and as an outsider looking in I believe the pirates will be playing winning baseball again way before the Cardinals.
I wouldn’t bet on it Arcia
What about the Cardinals season gives you Optimism? I’m genuinely curious.
Nothing about this season gives me optimism. But assuming the Cardinals don’t turn it around this will be the first season with a losing record since freaking 2007.
Even if the Pirates draft and develop well they won’t spend when it’s time to spend. They didn’t last time that’s why they are rebuilding again.
I wish the Pirates would spend and there would be some good competition year after year.
King-This is where it is an advantage to be a long time Pirates fan.
Nutting did spend when they had a good team.He did not spend on high priced free agents but he was never shy about keeping well paid Pirates,
The knock on him was that they could have gotten one more year in 2016 of their best team.
And he has not extended stars like McCutcheon but has a philosophy to trade them a year or two before they reach free agency.I was here near Philadelphia during his three year $50M deal and somewhat because of an injury in 2019 based on playing results he was not worth the money.
The Cardinals are a model franchise and they will be back.Losing makes winning that much more enjoyable.
When have the Pirates spent money? I don’t remember thar happening.
They were one of the first teams to give out futures contracts like Hayes has now.
Cutch and Marte they won,Tabata and Polanco they lost.
They gave Burnett $8 M to come back when he lost 14 games with the Phillies and he was surprised that he got that much.
They gave Liriano $48M for three years and he stunk the second year and they had to package prospects to get rid of him.
They gave Cervell the going rate even though he was prone to concussions which ultimately relatively quickly ended his career.
They offered Walker a very fair three deal even though his back gave out when he made more per year with the Mets for two years but cratered the third.
They gave Charlie Morton $8M a year even though he was always injured.
They offered Russell Martin $56M for four years but he went home to Toronto for 5 years $70M and stunk most of the last 2-3 years.
These are very modest amounts compared to most teams but on a unit basis they have generally worked out well as opposed to many teams that have the money and fritter it away.
They also add salary at the trade deadlines when they have a good team.
The Cardinals generally do the same but one wonders what will happen with the Arenado and Goldschmidt contracts as they begin their inevitable declines.
Goldschmidt and Arenado were both top 3 in MVP votes in 2022.
Sure they will decline at some point. By then we will bring in the next wave and then spend some more money.
That what winning teams do. I wish the Pirates would spend I don’t think it’s fair to the fans or to baseball that they function as a bottom feeder living off revenue sharing.
Cards- They had an upper lower half salary total between about 2013-2016 or so.
That was their last period of contention.
Posters like you want them to spend millions on free agents who quite often do not earn their money and for what,so they can win 8 more games and finish with 72-75 wins?
Their mediocre farm system and poor development coaches have doomed the Pirates for many years and the latter may still be doing the same.
And your two friends are still fine players but they may very have peaked last year.
T swaggerty’s wife is extremely sick with a very rare complication from being bitten by a rabid raccoon. He made that public along with requests for prayers at beginning of June.
So he has been going through a lot and dealing with more important things than baseball.
So please let’s not dump on the guy given his situation.
I was going to come to comment this. That’s the big reason why he has barely played this year. I feel awful for him.
Im sure he will get another chance if and when he wants it. Im sure there is some minor league team or great training facility nevet to where if wife needs/gets her treatment. I pray that shes ok swagger will get another chance for sure but with his wife dealing with this how can concentrate on hitting sliders right now
He’s an unknown player to me, but circumstances as described suggest that his on-field performance has been severely affected by off-the-field issues. The White Sox should give him a chance. They’ve been looking for a right fielder for a long, long time. Maybe he can be the solution to their problem.
Swaggerty’s a tragic case. Lost pretty much all of 2021 after showing some improvement before landing on the IL for the rest of the year, injury seemed to affect his overall game, and now he’s dealing with a ton of off-field issues with his wife in poor condition. Don’t know how you couldn’t feel some sympathy for him.
I was disappointed that somehow, his performance in spring training didn’t earn him a spot here in Pittsburgh. Given the shuttling of outfielders between Indy and Pittsburgh the last couple of years, I thought he’d earned it
No idea how he’s done at Indy but this move seems to be unfair and unkind
He had a very good spring training this year and instead of bringing him north, they chose CSN, who couldn’t hit a whiffle ball off of a T with the parent club
Swaggerty did indeed earn a spot on the major league roster but Shelton wouldn’t know fair if it fell out of the sky and landed in his lap
@TheMan It probably wouldn’t have mattered much anway regardless of the decision of who the Pirates took North with them. Swaggerty landed on the IL about two weeks into the season, and has barely played all year, both because of personal issues and injuries. Can’t really say the Pirates made the ‘wrong’ decision, basising it soley off of ST stats. Both Swaggerty and CSN did great in pre-season games. If Swaggerty failed and CSN was sent to Triple-A, we’d be complaining about him not getting the roster spot.
He’s barely played all year. Only 22 games played and 91 plate appearances taken. Only 17 of those contests and 72 of those PAs have come at Triple-A this year (he got injured pretty early on). I understand that he did great in ST, but so did CSN. Plus, I’m sure every baseball fan can remember a time a player went off in pre-season before failing in the regular season. Let’s not forget Jose Osuna, who was Barry Bonds-like in Spring, then couldn’t even be a league average hitter when the Pirates gave him a chance in the big leagues.
Is that really his name lol
Are you just a dumba$$?
No alias. Real name is Dick Pole.
Thanks for sharing.
Maybe the Pirates shouldn’t have dumped him.
Then who would you have cut?
I don’t know man. But if he’s dealing with problems outside of baseball that aren’t really under his control maybe it’s not the best time to release him.
They didn’t release him.
Marcano.
That is not swaggy
The Pirates needed a 40 man spot, and hoping that Swaggerty passes through waivers so they can keep him in the organization still and maye he can work his way back to the 40 man again.
Well they just designated him. I’m sure they won’t release him. Even if they keep him in minors him and his family will still have insurance which is the most important thing. So it’s not like they are just throwing him away. This year a lot of guys are being designated and staying with the organizations.
He might need some blood test done on him to see if that raccoon business has traveled to him through bodily fluids . Though I don’t know the time line of when these problems started .Anyhoo
Piece of ISH Pittsburgh Post Gazette won’t let you read something . You like writing and nobody reads it ? Go shove it
got ‘em
Most media outlets require people to have paid subscriptions to read their articles, the Post Gazette is no different
Advertising is what used to pay for print media but with the expansion of digital media, advertising is down
Shame at 28 years old. Hope for a better turn for the guy.
This is the best best thing that could happen to Swaggerty.
He can keep his mind on more important things this year.
It seems to me that he would be a fourth or fifth MlL outfielder,which are fairly common.
Hopefully the problems go away this year and he goes to ST with whatever team has him and he does well.
Here’s hoping that that happens and his skill set comes out quickly as he will have become too old to be a prospect anymore.
I hope the Nats put in a claim and work out a trade for him.
If the organization can help him get healthy, and he can play in a location like AA Harrisburg where his wife can get the medical care she needs, Swaggerty could become at least as good as Lane Thomas (a 4th/5th OF), if not better.