Swiney Joins Bailey As Giants Draft Pick

NC State left-hander Nick Swiney became the second NC State player taken by the San Francisco Giants in this year's Major League Baseball draft when the team took him in the second round with the 67th overall pick

The San Francisco Giants are stockpiling players from NC State.

One day after taking catcher Patrick Bailey in the first round, the team selected left-handed pitcher Nick Swiney in the second round on Thursday.

The junior left-hander was the 67th player selected overall, Together with Bailey, Swiney joins another fellow Wolfpack alumnus, shortstop Will Wilson, who was taken in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels in 2019 but has since been acquired by the Giants in a trade.

Swiney and Bailey are the first Wolfpack pitcher and catcher to go in consecutive rounds since right-hander Cory Mazzoni (second) and Pratt Maynard (third) in 2011.

That @NCStateBaseball ➡️ @SFGiants connection stays running strong! Congrats to @NicholasSwiney!#GoPack // #NCState pic.twitter.com/NtGoag7u55

— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) June 11, 2020

Swinney spent his first two seasons with the Wolfpack working out of the bullpen before making a successful transition into the weekend rotation during the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season.

He was 4-0 with a 1.29 earned run average and 42 strikeouts in 28 innings of his four 2020 starts, a breakout performance that earned him second-team All-American status from CollegiateBaseball.com.

"Professional teams wanted to see me as a starter and just how I could excel there," Swiney said in a recent Zoom conference with local media. "That was something that was not on my resume yet.

"Everybody had seen me out of the bullpen. I hadn’t had a true seven-, eight-inning start. So for me going into this year, talking with our pitching coach, (Clint) Chrysler and our catcher Patrick Bailey, I was just trying to not go out there and be too perfect. I knew I needed to be out there and compete for my team for seven or eight innings on a weekly basis."

Swiney accomplished that goal by going seven or more innings in each of his four starts. He struck out 11 in each of his first two starts, on opening day against James Madison and a week later against Tennessee Tech.

His most dominant performance came on Feb. 29, indoors at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in the Cambria College Classic. Facing Purdue, he gave up a hit in the first inning then returned the final 22 hitters he faced, striking out 15 on the way to a a 6-0 shutout victory.

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