After 'trials and tribulations,' Travis Swaggerty finds perfect timing for Pirates debut

Amid the hoopla surrounding his arrival with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Travis Swaggerty took time Sunday afternoon in the home dugout at PNC Park to reflect on his road to the major leagues.

In that moment, Swaggerty thought about what he calls the “trials and tribulations” of his professional baseball career and gave thanks.

“I’ve been talking about getting here and providing for my family for years. Now that I’m here, I can’t believe this is happening,” Swaggerty said. “Even in college — my wife went to South Alabama with me for my junior year — she would want to hang out, and I’d be like, ‘I’ve got to go hit.’ She would be like, ‘Do you have to hit tonight?’ I would say, ‘Listen, I’m going to hit so I can provide for our future family.’

“I would literally joke with her about that, but I was so serious. Now here we are. To be able to think about that is so cool.”

Welcome to the Big Leagues… Travis Swaggerty. #Bucs pic.twitter.com/qDuvAFs1Fk

— Scott (@bonnett_scott) June 8, 2022

The 10th overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft, Swaggerty didn’t have a straight path from South Alabama to the Pirates. After Swaggerty signed for a $4.4 million bonus, his wife, Peyton, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer two weeks into his professional career (she’s now cancer free).

Swaggerty earned a reputation at South Alabama as college baseball’s best hitter but struggled to show his bat in his first season in the minors, hitting .239 with almost three times as many strikeouts (58) as walks (22). He improved the following summer, batting .265 in 2019, but spent the summer at the alternate training site in Altoona when the covid-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 minor-league season.

Then, after only 12 games at Triple-A Indianapolis, Swaggerty dislocated his right (non-throwing) shoulder while sliding back to first base. He elected to undergo season-ending surgery, which sidetracked his progress once again.

Travis Swaggerty is in the building. pic.twitter.com/vyY2TlR7Iv

— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) June 5, 2022

Pirates rookie outfielder Cal Mitchell was Swaggerty’s teammate throughout much of that journey, so Mitchell welcomed his friend with a bear hug in the clubhouse when Swaggerty walked in after only one hour of sleep Sunday.

“Baseball already is really hard, then things happen off the field with your family,” Mitchell said. “It’s so great to see him still come to the field ready to go every day. He has performed his way here and will earn his keep. It’s admirable.

“He has a real positive disposition about himself, which I can appreciate and I love. We match in that regard. I don’t know what he was dealing with internally, but he never showed it. He did not bring it to the field, did not bring it to his work — and it shows now.”

For every setback, Swaggerty can count a blessing. Because he was sidelined by the surgery, he was able to help Peyton through a difficult pregnancy and be there when their daughter, Sutton Hollie, was born six weeks premature in September. Because of baseball’s lockout, Swaggerty was able to visit Peyton in the hospital every day when a raccoon bite led to a months-long infection.

“It gave me perspective that life is bigger than baseball,” Swaggerty said. “Those two people are more important to me than anything else in the world. For me to be able to provide for them by doing this, this is why I work so hard — for those two.”

Swaggerty even found the positives when his injured left (throwing) shoulder prevented him from playing in spring training and caused him to be one of the first cuts. He asked to be optioned to the minor-league camp, where he could serve as designated hitter and spend more time working on his swing while going through throwing progressions. He slashed .280/.362/.439 with five doubles, two triples, four home runs and 22 RBIs in 35 games at Indianapolis, prompting his promotion.

“Really excited and happy for Travis,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s been through a lot over the last 12 months. Comes into spring training, he’s behind, he can only DH, he’s doing a throwing program. He gets off to a tough start then makes some adjustments and, over the last three weeks, has probably been our best player in the minor leagues.”

Swaggerty had circled this weekend on the calendar as an optimal time to join the Pirates, given that Atlanta is the closest MLB city to his hometown of Denham Springs, La. Swaggerty expects more than two dozen family and friends to make the trip to Truist Park to watch the Pirates play the Braves and, hopefully, witness his first major-league hit.

That might require another moment of reflection.

“I have absolute, 100% faith that God’s timing is everything. Who am I to question that?” Swaggerty said. “I am where my two feet are, where I’m supposed to be. I truly believe that. Believe it or not, the Braves are the closest team to home for me. When the schedule came out in the offseason, that’s what I had my eyes on. I would just say, ‘That would be really cool if I was in the big leagues when that series was going on.’ And I get to live that, so the timing was really perfect.

“There were some ups and some downs, but to have a fully healthy shoulder right now and be in the big leagues is incredible. … The whole journey has been crazy. I’m super fortunate that I’m here right now.”