A day after drafting NC State baseball catcher Patrick Bailey in the first round of the MLB Draft and months after trading for former Wolfpack infielder Will Wilson, who was selected in the first round last year by the Los Angeles Angels, the San Francisco Giants continue to add former NC State products into its minor league system.
The Giants took left-handed pitcher Nick Swiney with the top pick in the supplemental second round (No. 67 overall), which is sandwiched between the second and third rounds for teams that lost a "Type B" free agent. Slot value for the pick was $967,700.
Swiney’s scintillating four starts this year, in which he allowed only 13 hits and six walks while surrendering four earned runs in 28.0 innings and striking out 42 batters, burst him onto the radar of MLB scouts. MLB Network's Jim Callis noted that Swiney was considered earlier by teams in the competitive balance first round choices.
“There’s some question if you want to start or relieve him in the long run," Callis noted. "Great numbers as a starter this year. His changeup really took a huge step forward this year. It was a plus pitch at times, and he threw a lot more strikes, so you feel like he could start.
"However, his fastball kind of sat in around 91-92 [miles per hour] as a starter and his curveball was good. When he was a reliever … he was up to 95 at times with a hammer curveball. He showed you more dominant stuff as a reliever, even though he had more success as a starter.”
Baseball America's Carlos Collazo noted that Swiney has the potential to stick as a starter.
“His stuff plays up a little bit because his delivery is a little bit funky," Collazo stated. "It’s not explosive stuff as a starter … but I think he does enough in his delivery and moves the ball around the zone to be effective, and he’s always had a history of striking out batters a high rate regardless of the rate.”
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