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As baseball fans, we love cheering for the underdogs, whether it’s the teams or the players who realize their unlikely dreams to make it someday to the Show. On this past Memorial Day, the Chicago Cubs brought up Matt Swarmer to realize another one of those unlikely Cinderella baseball story lines.
If you told anyone who follows the Cubs with any regularity that a guy named Matt Swarmer from Pennsylvania was going to be a starter for the Cubbies this season, most people would probably just scratch their head and in unison say ‘who’s Matt Swarmer?” Well, after the May 30th game one of a doubleheader with the Milwaukee Brewers, more Cubs fans and baseball aficionados in general should start to get to memorize this name. The unlikely and story book road to the Friendly Confines for Matt Swarmer is a heartwarming and reassuring story that people who work hard and don’t give up on their dreams sometimes actually do get the chance to live out their wildest hopes.
Matt Swarmer’s Road to the Show reads like a fairy tale. Drafted out of Division II Kutztown University (PA) as a 19th round MLB draft pick in 2016, Swarmer’s destiny as a starting big-league pitcher never seriously showed up on the Cubs radar screen. Let’s face it, most draft picks are guys who get to play in the minors and fill out rosters so that top prospects get playing time to prepare them for Major League Baseball. Guys like Matt Swarmer are there to be as some call it “org guys’ who do that – fill out organization rosters.
After six years of battling time and competition from other pitching prospects, Matt Swarmer had to pitch in an adult rec league in 2020 just to keep his arm in shape during the Covid-19 canceled year. The 2021 season with the AAA Iowa Cubs did not initially show any massive promise for Swarmer to make the big leagues any time soon as he posted a 5.22 ERA in 89 2-3 innings in the minors. However, working out his two-pitch repertoire (sliders and four seam fastballs) the righty Swarmer posted far more impressive numbers early in the 2022 campaign with a 2.08 ERA while only giving up 23 hits to 42 punchouts versus 14 walks early on at Iowa.
The Cinderella dream for Matt Swarmer became an unlikely and even more rewarding reality as he was scratched off the Iowa Cubs pitching rotation for this past weekend in order to be on the Chicago Cubs starting rotation. Dreams became real for Swarmer as he took the mound at Wrigley Field on Memorial Day and pitched six quality innings while giving up five hits and only one earned run ( a total of four runs scored on fielding errors total.) Swarmer’s calm demeanor and pitch control allowed him to only give up one walk versus six strikeouts. Whether Matt Swarmer is here to stay on the Cubs starting rotation or just up for a ‘cup of coffee” with the big-league club, just his presence on the mound tells a great story of perseverance told in the annals of baseball.
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