Welcome to the Pirates Prospects daily video rundown, where we pull some of the top videos of the Pittsburgh Pirates across the internet.
Travis Swaggerty
The more games go on, the more obvious that at the very least, Travis Swaggerty should get an extended look to start the season. He’s playing strong defense, and continues to hit, despite that being the thing that usually gets held against him.
Travis Swaggerty continues his strong spring, picking up a pair of hits. He went hunting early too, seeing a total of three pitches to get the hits. Takes an off-speed the other way before turning on a fastball for the second hit. #Pirates pic.twitter.com/DqkaYcb1YS
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) March 15, 2023
He was aggressive at the plate on Tuesday, picking up two hits on three pitches seen, slapping an offspeed the other way before turning on a fastball and pulling it.
Endy Rodriguez
There aren’t too many more things that we can say about Endy Rodriguez that we haven’t already said. Despite only a handful of games in Triple-A last year, he’s already looking the part of a major leaguer.
There's a zoomed in view of Endy swinging. One of the many things I love about watching him play, look at the hands. So quiet, nearly no movement needed to get them in position to swing. He's every bit legit. #Pirates pic.twitter.com/mZCaqOHgt8
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) March 15, 2023
Canaan Smith-Njigba
He’s also had an impressive camp. There’s always been power in his swing, it’s just been a matter of getting some lift to maximize on it. There was no doubting this one he hit against the Twins.
Canaan Smith-Njigba, the No. 28 @Pirates prospect, smashes a no-doubter for his first HR of the spring! pic.twitter.com/NDqCJJI8M1
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) March 14, 2023
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.
Swaggerty looks ready. We need his glove in CF too. I hope that they give him a chance. I like Suwinski, but I’m not sold that he’s our answer in CF. Nice to have some of the decisions that we do this year. Last year was basically “Whatever…”
As this site has breathlessly advocated for nearly any prospect with a pulse over the last two years, Jack Suwinski’s development and transition to the show has clearly been helped by skipping AAA and learning on the fly against the best pitchers on the planet. Just look at him go.
I have no clue why there’s now question on whether or not he deserves an Opening Day roster slot.
This is what success looks like, fellas, enjoy it!
just wait for his next of´r 30 in April
More straw men. No one’s calling for anyone to leap from AA to the show. Argue honestly or admit you’re the “culture warrior” here trolling for a battle.
You are *literally* doing that with Endy Rodriguez right this moment!
An overarching thread of this entire site over the last two years is that players are big league ready after AA and it would improve their uptake in the show to be sent straight there and learn the rest on the fly.
Do you people even pay attention or just come here to rage online? Try to keep up with even basic facts of the situation.
He was in AAA to end the season. Literally.
Do you even take words seriously? How many at bats he may have had in AAA he was there. Not AA.
And the guy who was talking about Suwinski’s leap was describing something that already happened. Not arguing for it to happen again.
You’re seeming a little frustrated by the pushback against your archaic notions of player development and economic fairness.
Endy should start in the majors for myriad reasons. One of them is capitalism is good. The owners are market manipulators. Literal monopolists screwing over the blue collar hard working players.
Or he shouldn’t for various reasons that the team won’t tell the public but insist we trust them.
What’s wrong with this picture? America should be about opportunity and fairness. MLB hates America?
Guaranteed contracts, comp of about 50%-55% of total revenues, premium benefits package/ pension, unlimited endorsement opportunities, seems pretty fair to me.
You didn’t read the context of the post. We are talking about minor leaguers. But you’re right, and minor leaguers are being regularly short changes by starting them later than they deserve. $750K is a huge salary when they come up.
6 games!
6 games isn’t even a small sample size.
This is no longer a baseball conversation, this is a moral crusade.
Swaggerty, I hope, stays on the roster for OD. Smith needs to go to Indy to continue to learn to lift the ball. And Endy looks like the Freddy Couples of Pirate baseball. He just makes hitting the baseball look easy.
Can I throw Nick Gonzales in the same category as Endy Rodriguez as 2 guys that stand out as being able to hit and hold their own with the glove. I am really hoping Swaggerty can hit major league pitching because his glove is so good (or maybe because our outfield play has been so bad.) A couple other guys I would like to see pick it up at the plate is Tucapita and Ji-Hwan Bae. Those two can help a ton with their speed and versatility.
Do you think fans of the Mets see Endy as a highly ranked prospect and get angry? Or Dodgers fans about Cruz? Or do they just think we can buy him or trade for him back in a few years? Never been a fan of another team or follow their minors much. Just remember how pissed I was at a certain trade with the Rays a few years back.
Mets fans still see catcher Francisco Alvarez as their top prospect, so they are not fussing. That’s why Endy was available.
I know. But he was just an example. Couldn’t come up with many trades for prospects we “won” off the top of my head. I bet they wouldn’t mind Endy playing second, OF or wherever else needed.
why is Suwinski receiving scholarship? his spring has been horrible
We don’t know he is. They haven’t made the final cuts. Everyone needs to wait and see. The Pirates won’t be making these decisions based on the spring game stats anyway!!
probably coming straight from AA and hitting 19 homeruns in the ‘big show’ probably gives him a little longer leash.
You are not wrong, but he should still be in the bigs, just needs to be protected, he should be platoon with Cutch in RF and even though he is a lefty, Cutch should get the majority of at bats. He could even come in as a defensive replacement and get one or two at bats.
I’ll disagree acknowledging I have only seen box scores and not his at bats. If Jack looks like he did last summer when he was demoted then I don’t see how he should be in the bigs. At that point he was overmatched and simply looking at his spring line (I know….. don’t put too much into spring training) I am afraid that is still true. If he had not looked so bad last year I would totally agree to ignore his stat line this spring but unfortunately late last summer happened(and it wasn’t just a 10 at bat slump). Most important thing is to have him develop, if MLB pitchers are overwhelming him, AAA seems like the right spot. He’s young, tell him to go down and produce. The other alternatives are not stars in the making, but appear more prepared IMO to face MLB pitching.
But it kind of was. It was 85-% on the road and 70% vs lefties and Shelton was too stubborn to platoon him. He was on his first ever west coast road trip and misused terribly and it was … 22 at bats. He talks about how he was really mentally fried at the time.
Whatever is happening in spring (or on that trip) matters but neither is more the real jack than his 19 home runs. At some point you let them sink or swim.
I get both arguments, don’t agree but get them. This guys posted 1+WAR last season thanks to his power and defense, maybe he goes down and gets better, but for now he is the perfect platoon partner for Cutch if you are trying to win a few games.
If decision is made to have Jack make the OD roster, then he needs to play most days. Personally, I think both the organization and the team would be better suited having him get comfortable with his new stance in AAA to start year. Clearly TSwag is swinging much better currently, and plays better D, too.
Totally agree. Swaggerty deserves first crack at it in my opinion
Only true if team is actually in the business of trying to win games this year.
I sure hope that’s the case. I just wanna see some positive steps forward. Not expecting 500 or a wild card spot but there’s no reason this team can’t be somewhat competitive