NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dansby Swanson was traded to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, part of a package that sent Shelby Miller to the Arizona Diamondbacks and furthered deepened the Braves’ impressive farm system. This happened six months to the day after the D-backs made Swanson, a 21-year-old shortstop out of Vanderbilt, the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft.
It’s not only unusual to see a No. 1 overall draft pick traded in baseball, to trade Swanson so quickly like the D-backs did is literally unprecedented. It’s never happened before.
[From Tim Brown: Atlanta reportedly agrees to trade pitcher Shelby Miller to Arizona]
It’s a move akin to when the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Andrew Wiggins No. 1 overall in the 2014 NBA draft and traded him for Kevin Love two months later. Baseball, however, is different. Until this year, MLB teams weren’t even allowed to trade their draft picks until they’d been signed for a full year. The rule was changed in May, so that a draft pick could be traded once that year’s World Series ended. You’re a pioneer, Dansby Swanson. Congrats.
Even before that, a No. 1 overall pick getting traded before his MLB debut is pretty rare. The last time that happened was with Adrian Gonzalez, the 2000 No. 1 pick, who was traded by the Florida Marlins in 2003 to the Texas Rangers after an injury. Before that, there was Shawn Abner, who the New York Mets drafted No. 1 overall in 1984 and traded to the Padres in 1986. That’s it.
There’s still another big difference in Swanson’s case: He’s being traded with his peak value still in tact. Swanson has played exactly 22 professional games, all in short-season Single-A, where he hit .289 with an .876 OPS. There’s no reason to think he’s damaged goods. In fact, he makes the package the Braves got back from Miller — along with two other very good young players in Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair — an impressive haul.
[Elsewhere: Cubs deal Starlin Castro to the Yankees for Adam Warren]
Since he played three years of college ball, Swanson’s path to the big leagues should also be shorter than my prospects. It’s not unreasonable to think that, if he hits, Swanson could in the big leagues in time for the Braves to open their new suburban stadium in Cobb County in 2017.
Speaking of that, he should have lots of fans when he does debut, because he’s from Marietta, Ga., right there in Cobb County. So in giving up Miller for Swanson and the others, the Braves were part of a historic trade and they added a potential future face of the franchise too.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
