Cardinals Prospect Swagerty Promoted to Double-A in First Pro Season

When he was drafted with the 75th overall pick in the 2010 draft, Cardinals righthander Jordan Swagerty was billed as a player who could quickly rise through the minor leagues. In his first pro season, he’s certainly lived up to that billing, as he was recently handed his second promotion of 2011, moving from High-A Palm Beach to Double-A Springfield.

Swagerty, an Arizona State alum who turned 22 last month, has posted an excellent 1.71 ERA and 82/18 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 84 1/3 innings this season.

After signing near the deadline last year for $625,000, the righthander didn’t get into game action last year and began his pro career in 2011 in Low-A. Five dominant starts into the season (30/2 K/BB, 18 H, 5 R in 30 IP), he was moved up to Palm Beach, where he oddly split his time between starting and closing.

There’s no doubt Swagerty has good stuff–he owns two plus pitches in a low-90’s sinker and a power curveball–but the question of his upside rests largely in what role he’ll ultimately have in the majors. Most projected him as a two-pitch late-game reliever coming out of college due to his lack of a changeup, but Swagerty didn’t have much trouble in the role in Low-A or in seven High-A starts (30/10 K/BB, 2.23 ERA). He was dominant in 15 relief appearances in High-A as well (22/6 K/BB in 18 IP, 1.00 ERA) after moving to closer in late June, but it’s very possible the move was more to ease Swagerty’s innings workload in his first pro season while getting him exposure to both starting and closing.

In any case, Swagerty appears to be the sort of fast riser who could make it to the big leagues sooner rather than later if he stays in the bullpen. It will be interesting to see where the Cardinals have the highly-touted pitcher start the 2012 season–one could conceivably see a strong finish to 2011 putting him in contention for the 2012 MLB bullpen right from the start of camp, but the Cardinals could take it much slower, particularly if he encounters hiccups or if the organization sees him as a starting pitcher long-term.

While St. Louis’ system isn’t known as one of baseball’s better collections of young talent, Swagerty certainly looks like he could play an important role for the Cardinals in the fairly near future.