BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Pirates made their first wave of spring training cuts Tuesday morning, optioning four and reassigning 14 more to their minor-league camp, including their last four first-round draft picks.
Before camp started Tuesday, outfielder Travis Swaggerty was the only member of the club's 40 man roster to be optioned. The other 12 to be reassigned to Pirate City were infielders Ji-hwan Bae, Jared Triolo and Nick Gonzales, pitchers Quinn Priester, Mike Burrows, Cody Bolton, Adrian Florencio, Kyle Nicolas, Carmen Mlodzinski and Tahnaj Thomas, and catcher Henry Davis.
After Tuesday's game, shortstop Liover Peguero, outfielder Jack Suwinski and infielder Tucipita Marcano were also optioned. Catchers Endy Rodriguez and Carter Bins were also reassigned to minor-league camp.
Davis was the first overall draft pick a year ago, and Gonzales and Mlodzinski were first rounds the year prior. Priester was the 2019 first-overall pick, and like Gonzales and Davis, is a top 100 prospect. Triolo won a minor-league Gold Glove at third base last year. Florencio was the organization’s minor-league pitcher of the year in 2021. Nicolas was acquired this winter in the Jacob Stallings trade. Burrows is a top 10 prospect in the organization. Thomas will likely start the year in Class AA Altoona, and Bae and Thomas in Class AAA Indianapolis.
Peguero and Rodriguez are also top 10 prospects. The other three players of the second wave of cuts were acquired at the trade deadline: Suwinski and Marcano in the Adam Frazier trade and Bins in the Tyler Anderson trade.
None of those cuts are particularly surprising, with the first batch almost always consisting of mostly young minor-leaguers not yet major-league ready but that the club wanted to give a little taste of what a major-league spring would look like.
Of course, given the shortened nature of this spring training because of the lockout and delayed start to the season, that taste ended up being only one week since the first official team workout Tuesday.
What is a bit surprising is that the only player of the bunch who didn’t get any game reps before the cut was the rostered player, Swaggerty.
Swaggerty did undergo surgery on his right, non-throwing shoulder last year, causing him to miss almost the entire 2021 season. However, he confirmed to me in camp that the shoulder had fully healed, something that the club had projected before the end of last season, too.
According to a team source, the decision came down to wanting to see outfielders who are competition for an opening day job get more reps. While not named, it is safe to assume that includes Greg Allen and Anthony Alford.
The team also sent out a release saying that while Swaggerty is cleared to hit, he was experiencing some soreness in his left shoulder, preventing him from starting a throwing program.
The Pirates did select his contract this winter, and the odds are good that Swaggerty will make his major-league debut at some point in 2022.
The Pirates currently have 53 active players in camp and two on the 60-day injured list: Right-handers Blake Cederlind and Nick Mears.
The final spring training game is April 5, giving the Pirates two weeks to finalize their major-league and 40 man rosters.
