Draft Day: South Alabama's Travis Swaggerty #1

The Pirates with the 10th pick select...Travis Swaggerty, a 20-year-old (he turns 21 in August) 5'11" 180 lb outfielder from South Alabama. He put up a .296 BA/.455 OBP with 13 HR/38 RBIs and is an athletic, toolsy guy with good wheels who projects as a MLB center fielder w/enough arm to play RF. He wasn't a reach nor steal; this is about where he was projected to go. One promising sign is that he's compared to Austin Meadows; could be the Pirates are planning on Swags and Austin to be the 1-2 hitters in 2021. The first round money allotted for this pick is $4,560,000; it's thought his deal may come in a bit under that figure. The Bucs left three pretty talented high school pitchers on the board, so they must be happy with the arms already in the pipeline.

Travis Swaggerty (MLB Network)

Concerns: He played in the Sun Belt, a good but not elite baseball conference. And his mechanics could still use some tweaking as he sometimes chases at the plate. Because of that, he's not considered a sure thing but as a player with a potentially high ceiling but also a potentially low floor, so improved discipline is his key. It also creates a bit of a logjam in organizational outfielders, but that's a good problem.

MLB Pipeline Scouting Report: “Swaggerty is an on-base machine thanks to his speed and patient approach. A left-handed hitter, he does swing and miss a bit much for a player with a leadoff profile because he can get overly aggressive at times, especially against breaking pitches. Though he didn’t go deep in 64 at-bats with wood bats on Team USA, he packs some sneaky power in his athletic frame and could produce 20 or more homers per season in the big leagues.”