NEW YORK – University of South Alabama junior outfielder Travis Swaggerty was selected in the first round (10th overall pick) of the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Monday by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Swaggerty is the fifth Jaguar to be selected in the first round of the draft, joining Glenn Borgmann (Minnesota Twins, 1971, ninth overall), Alex Pastore (Cleveland Indians, 1973, 13th overall; St. Louis Cardinals, 1974, 18th overall), Pat Putnam (Texas Rangers, 1975, 22nd overall) and Mike Zimmerman (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1990, 27th overall). His selection by the Pirates at No. 10 in the first round is the second-highest a Jag has been taken in the draft behind Borgmann.

Swaggerty finished his junior campaign at USA ranked second in the Sun Belt Conference in walks (54), fifth in on-base percentage (.455), tied for fifth in home runs (13), tied for eighth in runs scored (57) and 10th in slugging percentage (.526). He batted .296 with 10 doubles, 13 home runs, 38 RBIs, 57 runs scored and nine stolen bases in 57 games played this season.

The Mandeville, La., native ranks fourth in career walks (145) at South Alabama, tied for 10th in hits (207) and home runs (28), tied for 13th in RBIs (125) and 15th in career at-bats (650). His 54 walks in 2018 ranks tied for seventh on the Jaguar single-season record list. 

Swaggerty is a two-time first-team all-SBC selection, earned second-team All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association and ABCA first-team all-South Central Region in 2017, and was a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball in 2016 in addition to being voted to the 2016 NCAA Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional All-Tournament team.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give.