Swaggerty hit .296 with 13 homers for the Jaguars of the Sun Belt Conference with nine steals.
I have to be honest and I haven't followed the draft prospects as much this season as I have in the past. but this pick seems like a cash savings that might see Pittsburgh roll that money into a tougher sign in a later round.
The lefthanded-hitting Swaggerty was compared to Darin Erstad by the MLB Network commentators, but I wonder about that- Erstad was much more of a contact hitter than Swaggerty seems to be and Swaggerty's steal totals dropped from 20 to 18 to 9 at South Alabama along with his other numbers.
I asked Joe Werner for his thoughts on Travis Swaggerty and here they are as follows: " Swaggerty is a very SABR-friendly hitter with a fantastic eye and good bat to ball skills.
I'm not sure that he projects anything more than 12 to 15 homers though-He's a very safe pick though"
Swaggerty does project to be able to stay in center though and that's a plus, but from my limited (and I'll admit very limited) looks at Swaggerty, I have a comparison and it's not as good of a comparison as Darin Erstad.
That is one of a past Indians first-rounder Tyler Naquin.
Naquin didn't hit for a great average or produce nearly enough power to start for the Tribe and has been constantly on the Columbus shuttle between AAA and the majors.
Naquin was also considered to be a safe pick and in my opinion, small market teams need to gamble on superstar potential not on safe college outfielders without a high ceiling.
I'm not completely disappointed with the pick, but I'm not especially thrilled either as to me, the Pirates reached a bit with Travis Swaggerty, but I'm open-minded enough to see if Pittsburgh is planning to spend more later in the draft or if they truly think Travis Swaggerty was the tenth best player in the draft before I make a final decision...
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