The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced they have drafted outfielder Travis Swaggerty with the 10th overall selection in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft. The announcement was made by Pirates Director of Scouting Joe DelliCarri.
The 20-year-old Swaggerty hit .296 (63-for-213) with 10 doubles, 13 home runs, 38 RBI and .526 slugging percentage in 57 games as a junior this season for the University of South Alabama.
Swaggerty was named a pre-season first-team All-America by Baseball America, D1Baseball, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Perfect Game/Rawlings and College Sports Madness. He was also named to the USA Baseball Preseason Golden Spikes Watch List. Swaggerty was also voted as the Sun Belt Conference preseason Player-of-the-Year, as well as a preseason all-Sun Belt Conference.
"Travis Swaggerty is one of the best hitters in the draft and we are pleased to add such a multidimensional player to our organization," said Pirates Executive Vice President and General Manager Neal Huntington. "Travis is a gritty, driven, well-rounded athlete who can impact a game with his bat, his speed and his glove."
During the summer of 2017, Swaggerty appeared in 19 games for the USA Baseball Collegiate National team, where he ranked second on the team in hits (21) and on-base percentage (.449) and third in stolen bases (six) and batting average (.328).
As a freshman in 2016, the 5-foot-11 Swaggerty was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America by Collegiate Baseball. He was also named to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional all-tournament team.