Angels To Hire Matt Swanson As Scouting Director

The Angels will hire Matt Swanson as their scouting director, sources confirmed to Baseball America on Tuesday. ESPN’s Keith Law originally reported the news on Twitter.

Swanson, 33, spent the past two seasons as the Cardinals’ Midwest crosschecker. He was the Cardinals’ Northern California area scout for five years prior to being promoted to crosschecker.

One rival American League scout offered high praise for Swanson.

“The Angels made a great hire,” the scout said. “He’s always worked very hard and he’s organized and very smart. Matt’s going to do a great job.”

The Angels’ scouting director position opened earlier this month, when Ric Wilson was removed from the position and offered a different role within the organization. The club also seeks a national crosschecker after the retirement of Jeff Malinoff.

Swanson, who is 6-foot-8, worked as a righthanded reliever at California from 2001-05 and pitches the Pirates organization from 2005-07. After pitching sparingly in his first two years in college, he became a bullpen fixture as a junior and emerged as a senior in 2005, posting a 1.66 ERA in just under 50 innings and prompting the Pirates to select him in the 13th round. That 2005 Cal team included future big leaguers Brennan Bosch, Allen Craig, Brandon Morrow and Josh Satin.

Swanson pitched three seasons in the Pirates organization, topping out at high Class A. He worked in insurance with New York Life immediately after his playing career before returning to baseball with the Cardinals as a scout in the fall of 2008.

He was the signing scout for big leaguers Stephen Piscotty, Kolten Wong, and Kyle Barraclough, among others.