8:50PM: Infielder Rodolfo Castro will probably be optioned to Triple-A to create space for Swaggerty on the 26-man roster, Mackey reviews (Twitter link).
7:25PM: The Pirates are calling up outfielder Travis Swaggerty, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviews. Swaggerty will formally be a part of the energetic roster previous to tomorrow’s recreation, and is probably going in line to make his Main League debut. No 40-man transfer is required, as Swaggerty was already added to Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster again in November.
The tenth general decide of the 2018 draft, Swaggerty acquired some top-100 consideration from Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline upfront of the 2019 season. Nevertheless, his inventory dropped after solely an okay 12 months at high-A ball in 2019, no minor league baseball in any respect in 2020 because of the canceled season, after which a 2021 that was reduce brief after solely 12 video games as a consequence of shoulder surgical procedure.
Beginning the 2022 marketing campaign once more at Triple-A Indianapolis, Swaggerty has carried out effectively thus far, hitting .280/.362/.439 over 150 plate appearances, with 4 dwelling runs. This promising begin may assist reply lingering doubts about Swaggerty’s bat, as each MLB Pipeline (who rank Swaggerty thirteenth in Pittsburgh’s farm system) and Baseball America (twenty fifth) cite the 24-year-old’s lack of any actual observe document on the plate. Swaggerty was exhibiting some enchancment as a consequence of some changes on the plate whilst late because the 2019 marketing campaign, however BA’s scouting report considers him “an open query” as a consequence of what was basically two misplaced seasons.
Swaggerty’s hitting might decide whether or not or not he can grow to be a daily on the MLB degree, however he may stick round as a fourth outfielder based mostly on plus glovework alone. Bryan Reynolds’ presence would appear to dam Swaggerty from the middle discipline job in Pittsburgh, although since Swaggerty has a powerful throwing arm, he is also deployed without any consideration fielder. Swaggerty joins Jack Suwinski, Tucupita Marcano, and Calvin Mitchell as left-handed hitting younger outfielders on the Pirates roster, although it will appear believable that any of those gamers might be optioned to Triple-A within the corresponding transfer for Swaggerty’s promotion.
With loads of veterans (together with outfielders Ben Gamel and Jake Marisnick) on the injured listing, the Pirates have needed to dip of their farm system quite a few instances already within the first two months of the season. On condition that the Bucs are nonetheless within the midst of a rebuild, it’s fairly doable that Swaggerty or any of those different children would’ve gotten the decision sooner or later anyway, and this chance provides Swaggerty an opportunity to ascertain himself as a constructing block.
