Dodgers' Swan breaks down his pitches

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Eriq Swan is essentially in his pitching infancy, and that could be a scary thought for the rest of the league.

The 23-year-old, 6-foot-6 right-hander picked up pitching late at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, having primarily been a tall shortstop in his prep years. He proved his rawness on the bump in a March 9, 2020 start as a senior in which he struck out six, walked five and allowed only one hit over four innings and it was then that a lightbulb went off.

“In that outing, I was like 94-97,” he said, “and I was like, OK, maybe I can throw the ball.”

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Swan became a full-time hurler at Middle Tennessee State following the pandemic and entered the Blue Raiders rotation in 2022 and 2023 with mixed results including a 6.49 ERA, 1.69 WHIP and 71 strikeouts in 61 innings as a junior. Scouts still found his rawness intriguing, and MLB Pipeline ranked the righty No. 240 on the 2023 Draft prospects list. The Dodgers drafted Swan 137th overall with the pick they acquired as compensation for the free-agent loss of Trea Turner and signed him for around slot at $466,500.

The hurler was limited to only 28 2 ⅓ innings between the Arizona Complex League and Single-A Rancho Cucamonga in what was meant to be his first full season due to an oblique injury at first and arm/shoulder issues later, and he’s made up for some of that in the Arizona Fall League where he’s been one of most talked-about arms. Entering Week 5, he had struck out 14 batters and walked only one in 8 ⅔ innings for Glendale while showing off heat and an altered arsenal.

We caught up with Swan in Arizona in the latest edition of the MLB Pipeline Pitching Lab:

FASTBALL

The velo has certainly been there this fall.

Swan’s first three AFL outings came in front of Statcast cameras, and in those starts, he sat 96-99 mph, touching 99.4 on a strikeout of 2023 first-rounder Brock Wilken on Oct. 10. Only Luis Mey (101.8) and Carlos Lagrange (99.8) have touched higher in front of Statcast in the AFL this year.

The Los Angeles prospect gets a tad above-average extension (6.6 feet) out of his large frame, but his heater stands out more for its velocity than its shape with only 4.6 inches of average horizontal movement and 15.9 inches of average induced vertical break. But even that’s been enough to hold off talented AFL hitters; 16 of his 54 four-seamers thrown (29.6 percent) have gone for called strikes or whiffs.

The bigger point might be that Swan is throwing with much improved command and overall control in the short AFL sample. He throws exclusively out of the stretch now, positioned on the first-base side, due to earlier wildness concerns.

I’ve tried to throw out of the windup before,” Swan said. “Those extra little steps get momentum going in different places that I don’t really like. Throwing out of the stretch, it’s one simple thing I can repeat all the time.”

Allowing those mechanics to play best also took a mental switch.

“I have to be around the zone as much as I can,” Swan said. “With every pitch, I’m trying to force a swing decision. … I don’t know if so much of it was overthrowing, but I think there were too many thoughts over the rubber instead of over the plate and trying to execute. A lot of the thought process was going into what I was trying to do. As the Fall League’s gone on, I’ve let go, trusted my body and let the rest take care of itself.”

SLIDER

Lighting up the radar gun in that way will always make scouts and evaluators sit up straight, but Swan is proving he’s more than just his four-seamer.

His slider got a 50 percent whiff rate in his final season at MTSU, but he’s continued to tinker with the pitch to get it to work in concert with numero uno.

“In college, I was all over the place,” Swan said. “I was trying to throw something up there to spin something. The Dodgers have done a really good job helping me figure out what that looks like and how I’m supposed to throw it. … For me, it was thinking fastball on a lot of things instead of thinking breaking ball or thinking spin. Keeping the same intent with it that I do with the fastball and letting the grip take care of the rest.”

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That particular grip is part of the pitch’s reinvention. Swan saw Phillies prospect and fellow Desert Dogs pitcher Griff McGarry throw a ton of sliders during pregame catch and clocked that movement profile was just what he was seeking. McGarry shared his grip that moved Swan’s fingers higher up the seam, and something locked into place.

“It was more of a cutter,” he said of the old slider. “It had a lot of lift to it, not as much horizontal or depth as I wanted. Talking to Griff, we switched to this grip, and I guess there’s a little more seam to play with, so it’s got more depth.”

The pitch still comes in hard in the 86-89 mph range with 4.8 inches of horizontal, but the added depth allows it to dip below bats and play better than a cutter-like slider would.

SWEEPER

The slider hasn’t been Swan’s only breaking ball in the Fall League. He also throws an 82-85 mph sweeper with 10.2 inches of gloveside movement on average. The development of that offering came after Swan couldn’t quite produce another breaker to the quality he desired.

“This whole year was about trying to figure out the curveball,” he said. “Eventually, I think my last three starts of the year, I [thought] you know what, I’m going to with what I know works. I can throw the sweeper, and it felt comfortable. So I threw maybe three of them in the bullpen before a game, and I was like, alright, we’re bringing this into a game. I’ve kept going with it since then.”

Part of that might be Swan’s motion and its holdover from his shortstop days when he needed a lower angle on infield tosses and throws around the second-base bag. The three-quarters delivery that he uses on the mound is a better fit for the sweeper than the curve, which tends to work better with over-the-top movements.

“I do well at getting around the ball, maybe not so much at getting in front of the ball,” Swan said. “Getting around the ball has always been easy. Spinning it that way is pretty simple.”

That isn’t to say Swan won’t still try to crack the deuce. He says he’s going to make it a focus again in the offseason, hoping that the vertical break will play off the fastball and give another dimension to his other secondaries. But until that happens, same-side batters will want to keep cognizant of Swan’s approach with the sweeper.

“I aim at a right-handed hitter,” he said, “and try to bring it across the plate.”

CHANGEUP

Placing his two middle fingers on the seams and wrapping the rest of his hand around the ball, Swan works with an 89-91 mph changeup that would match some pitcher’s fastballs. The pitch still works because of the separation of his upper-90s four-seamer, and like with the slider, Swan is thinking heater when he throws the change too. Well, sorta.

“I try to throw this harder than my fastball,” he said. “I grab it and throw it as hard as I can.”

Swan says he’s aiming for around 90 mph (good there), four inches of IVB (6.1 average in AFL) and 15 inches of horizontal (13.5 average). So work remains, but it’s a start. He’ll need the changeup to hold off lefties if he’s going to remain a starter with the Dodgers. But one thing you can guarantee – it, like Swan’s other pitches, will come with full intent.

“I think a lot of guys get in the way with the changeup because it’s taught to you as a finesse pitch,” he said. “I think the easiest way for athletes to go about things is full speed. I’m going to throw this thing as hard as I can, and if it moves, it moves.”