Nick Swiney

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #24 prospect in 2023
  BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
  
  Track Record: Swiney spent most of his freshman and sophomore seasons in North Carolina State's bullpen and moved full-time to the rotation as a junior, but he made just four starts before the season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. The Giants saw enough in that limited sample to take him in the second supplemental round and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney made just 12 starts in his pro debut due to a concussion, but he returned to post a full season for the first time in 2022. He posted a 3.46 ERA at High-A Eugene while pitching a career-high 89 innings.
  
  Scouting Report: Swiney's best pitch is his 78-81 mph changeup, which projects as a true plus weapon. He throws the pitch for strikes and gets plenty of chases on it as well to generate whiffs at a rate of nearly 45%. Swiney's changeup would play even better if his 88-91 mph fastball gained more velocity, which is what he and the Giants will work toward in 2023. Swiney rounds out his mix with a mid-70s curveball with low spin but deep break and has a chance to be average. He has struggled with below-average control throughout his career.
  
  The Future: Swiney needs to improve his fastball velocity and control to reach his ceiling as a No. 5 starter. He'll be tested at Double-A Richmond in 2023.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 45. Curveball: 50. Changeup: 60. Control: 40
• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #13 prospect in 2022
  Track Record: Swiney was supposed to use the 2020 season at North Carolina State to stretch himself into a starter’s role after spending his first two years working out of the bullpen. Alas, the pandemic happened and Swiney was limited to just four starts. Nevertheless, the Giants were tempted enough by his potential to draft him in the supplemental second round and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney’s official pro debut was delayed by a concussion in the season’s first week that kept him out until mid July and limited him to just 12 starts.
  
  Scouting Report: Swiney’s best pitch is an outstanding changeup thrown in the high 70s with roughly 13 mph of separation from his fastball. He threw his changeup more than 45% of the time in his pro debut, and for good reason. He can land his changeup for called strikes or get hitters to chase it out of the zone thanks to a combination of movement patterns and deception in his delivery. Swiney’s fastball averages around 92 mph and plays up with its vertical movement, which helps it be effective at the top of the strike zone despite its pedestrian velocity. His third pitch is a deep-breaking curveball in the high 70s with movement patterns that make it more effective. Swiney needs to throw more strikes overall, and the Giants haven’t ruled out potentially adding a slider or cutter to his mix.
  
  The Future: Swiney is likely to head to High-A Eugene in 2022. He could wind up in the back of a rotation.
  
• 
  Ranked San Francisco Giants #16 prospect in 2021
  TRACK RECORD: Swiney was a reliever for two seasons at North Carolina State before a planned move to the rotation in his junior season. He was limited to just four starts before the season shut down, but the Giants saw enough to draft him 67th overall and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney's crowning moment in 2020 was a 15-strikeout game that marked the highest total for a Wolfpack pitcher since Carlos Rodon in 2014.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Although Swiney's fastball has touched 94 mph, he was more in the 89-91 range at instructional league. He'll need to get stronger to tap into his top-end velocity more frequently and hold it throughout starts. Swiney backs up his fastball with a curveball and changeup. Evaluators are split on which pitch has the better future, but they believe that he accentuates his mix by tunnelling all three pitches off of one another. The Giants also worked with Swiney at instructional league to work from the bottom up in his delivery and extract more power from his lower half. He's had control issues in the past but was a plus strike-thrower as a junior.
  
  THE FUTURE: Swiney should begin his first official pro season at one of the Class A levels. He has a ceiling of a back-end starter.

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #85 prospect in 2020 draft
  A reliever for North Carolina State during his first two seasons in Raleigh, Swiney has always racked up plenty of strikeouts (career 13.6 per nine rate) with the Wolfpack but struggled to consistently throw strikes as a freshman and sophomore. Swiney walked more than five batters per nine innings in his first two seasons but took a big step forward in the control department in 2020, when he transitioned to the team’s Friday night starting role. Swiney was dominant in his first four outings, posting a 1.29 ERA in 28 innings while striking out 42 batters and walking just six. His 15 strikeouts against Purdue on Feb. 29 were the most by an NC State pitcher in a single game since Carlos Rodon in 2014. Swiney doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but his three-pitch mix is solid, and it plays up with a bit of funk in his delivery. His fastball gets up to 93-94 mph at its best, but early this season it was anywhere from 87-92 consistently. After his fastball, Swiney has two solid secondaries including a curveball that could be an above-average pitch and a changeup that he’s increasingly become more comfortable throwing. Swiney was trending in the right direction and showing he could handle a starting role, but teams would have liked to see a full season to have more conviction that his stuff held up in that role and that his newfound strike-throwing improvement was legit. He has likely done enough to be drafted anywhere in the 2-4 round range.

• February, 2023 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
  
  Track Record: Swiney spent most of his freshman and sophomore seasons in North Carolina State's bullpen and moved full-time to the rotation as a junior, but he made just four starts before the season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. The Giants saw enough in that limited sample to take him in the second supplemental round and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney made just 12 starts in his pro debut due to a concussion, but he returned to post a full season for the first time in 2022. He posted a 3.46 ERA at High-A Eugene while pitching a career-high 89 innings.
  
  Scouting Report: Swiney's best pitch is his 78-81 mph changeup, which projects as a true plus weapon. He throws the pitch for strikes and gets plenty of chases on it as well to generate whiffs at a rate of nearly 45%. Swiney's changeup would play even better if his 88-91 mph fastball gained more velocity, which is what he and the Giants will work toward in 2023. Swiney rounds out his mix with a mid-70s curveball with low spin but deep break and has a chance to be average. He has struggled with below-average control throughout his career.
  
  The Future: Swiney needs to improve his fastball velocity and control to reach his ceiling as a No. 5 starter. He'll be tested at Double-A Richmond in 2023.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 45. Curveball: 50. Changeup: 60. Control: 40
• December, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 45/High
  
  Track Record: Swiney spent most of his freshman and sophomore seasons in North Carolina State's bullpen and moved full-time to the rotation as a junior, but he made just four starts before the season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. The Giants saw enough in that limited sample to take him in the second supplemental round and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney made just 12 starts in his pro debut due to a concussion, but he returned to post a full season for the first time in 2022. He posted a 3.46 ERA at High-A Eugene while pitching a career-high 89 innings.
  
  Scouting Report: Swiney's best pitch is his 78-81 mph changeup, which projects as a true plus weapon. He throws the pitch for strikes and gets plenty of chases on it as well to generate whiffs at a rate of nearly 45%. Swiney's changeup would play even better if his 88-91 mph fastball gained more velocity, which is what he and the Giants will work toward in 2023. Swiney rounds out his mix with a mid-70s curveball with low spin but deep break and has a chance to be average. He has struggled with below-average control throughout his career.
  
  The Future: Swiney needs to improve his fastball velocity and control to reach his ceiling as a No. 5 starter. He'll be tested at Double-A Richmond in 2023.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 45. Curveball: 50. Changeup: 60. Control: 40
• April, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade: 50/High
  
  Track Record: Swiney was supposed to use the 2020 season at North Carolina State to stretch himself into a starter&#39s role after spending his first two years working out of the bullpen. Alas, the pandemic happened and Swiney was limited to just four starts. Nevertheless, the Giants were tempted enough by his potential to draft him in the supplemental second round and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney&#39s official pro debut was delayed by a concussion in the season&#39s first week that kept him out until mid July and limited him to just 12 starts.
  
  Scouting Report: Swiney&#39s best pitch is an outstanding changeup thrown in the high 70s with roughly 13 mph of separation from his fastball. He threw his changeup more than 45% of the time in his pro debut, and for good reason. He can land his changeup for called strikes or get hitters to chase it out of the zone thanks to a combination of movement patterns and deception in his delivery. Swiney&#39s fastball averages around 92 mph and plays up with its vertical movement, which helps it be effective at the top of the strike zone despite its pedestrian velocity. His third pitch is a deep-breaking curveball in the high 70s with movement patterns that make it more effective. Swiney needs to throw more strikes overall, and the Giants haven&#39t ruled out potentially adding a slider or cutter to his mix.
  
  The Future: Swiney is likely to head to High-A Eugene in 2022. He could wind up in the back of a rotation.
• December, 2021 Scouting Report
  Track Record: Swiney was supposed to use the 2020 season at North Carolina State to stretch himself into a starter’s role after spending his first two years working out of the bullpen. Alas, the pandemic happened and Swiney was limited to just four starts. Nevertheless, the Giants were tempted enough by his potential to draft him in the supplemental second round and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney’s official pro debut was delayed by a concussion in the season’s first week that kept him out until mid July and limited him to just 12 starts.
  
  Scouting Report: Swiney’s best pitch is an outstanding changeup thrown in the high 70s with roughly 13 mph of separation from his fastball. He threw his changeup more than 45% of the time in his pro debut, and for good reason. He can land his changeup for called strikes or get hitters to chase it out of the zone thanks to a combination of movement patterns and deception in his delivery. Swiney’s fastball averages around 92 mph and plays up with its vertical movement, which helps it be effective at the top of the strike zone despite its pedestrian velocity. His third pitch is a deep-breaking curveball in the high 70s with movement patterns that make it more effective. Swiney needs to throw more strikes overall, and the Giants haven’t ruled out potentially adding a slider or cutter to his mix.
  
  The Future: Swiney is likely to head to High-A Eugene in 2022. He could wind up in the back of a rotation.
  
• July, 2021 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: Swiney was a reliever for two seasons at North Carolina State before a planned move to the rotation in his junior season. He was limited to just four starts before the season shut down, but the Giants saw enough to draft him 67th overall and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney's crowning moment in 2020 was a 15-strikeout game that marked the highest total for a Wolfpack pitcher since Carlos Rodon in 2014.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Although Swiney's fastball has touched 94 mph, he was more in the 89-91 range at instructional league. He'll need to get stronger to tap into his top-end velocity more frequently and hold it throughout starts. Swiney backs up his fastball with a curveball and changeup. Evaluators are split on which pitch has the better future, but they believe that he accentuates his mix by tunnelling all three pitches off of one another. The Giants also worked with Swiney at instructional league to work from the bottom up in his delivery and extract more power from his lower half. He's had control issues in the past but was a plus strike-thrower as a junior.
  
  THE FUTURE: Swiney should begin his first official pro season at one of the Class A levels. He has a ceiling of a back-end starter.
• March, 2021 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: Swiney was a reliever for two seasons at North Carolina State before a planned move to the rotation in his junior season. He was limited to just four starts before the season shut down, but the Giants saw enough to draft him 67th overall and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney's crowning moment in 2020 was a 15-strikeout game that marked the highest total for a Wolfpack pitcher since Carlos Rodon in 2014.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Although Swiney's fastball has touched 94 mph, he was more in the 89-91 range at instructional league. He'll need to get stronger to tap into his top-end velocity more frequently and hold it throughout starts. Swiney backs up his fastball with a curveball and changeup. Evaluators are split on which pitch has the better future, but they believe that he accentuates his mix by tunnelling all three pitches off of one another. The Giants also worked with Swiney at instructional league to work from the bottom up in his delivery and extract more power from his lower half. He's had control issues in the past but was a plus strike-thrower as a junior.
  
  THE FUTURE: Swiney should begin his first official pro season at one of the Class A levels. He has a ceiling of a back-end starter.
• December, 2020 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: Swiney was a reliever for two seasons at North Carolina State before a planned move to the rotation in his junior season. He was limited to just four starts before the season shut down, but the Giants saw enough to draft him 67th overall and sign him for $1,197,500. Swiney's crowning moment in 2020 was a 15-strikeout game that marked the highest total for a Wolfpack pitcher since Carlos Rodon in 2014.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Although Swiney's fastball has touched 94 mph, he was more in the 89-91 range at instructional league. He'll need to get stronger to tap into his top-end velocity more frequently and hold it throughout starts. Swiney backs up his fastball with a curveball and changeup. Evaluators are split on which pitch has the better future, but they believe that he accentuates his mix by tunnelling all three pitches off of one another. The Giants also worked with Swiney at instructional league to work from the bottom up in his delivery and extract more power from his lower half. He's had control issues in the past but was a plus strike-thrower as a junior.
  
  THE FUTURE: Swiney should begin his first official pro season at one of the Class A levels. He has a ceiling of a back-end starter.