Former Chicago Cubs right-hander Matt Swarmer has been signed for his third tour of duty with the Lancaster Stormers, it was announced today by manager Ross Peeples.
He becomes the 16th player under contract with the Stormers for the upcoming 2025 season.
Swarmer, 31, initially joined the Stormers for the pennant stretch in 2023 and posted a 4-1 record and 3.69 ERA in seven starts for the club. He would split decisions in the ’23 playoff run with a win over the Long Island Ducks and a loss to Gastonia.
After a brief stay in the Mexican League in 2024, the Reading, PA native returned to the Stormers for 16 starts. Swarmer went 5-4 with a 3.80 ERA. He threw shutout baseball twice, for six innings against Long Island, July 13 and 6 2/3 more at Hagerstown on August 22.
His one appearance in the playoffs resulted in a no decision.
On July 25, he tied the franchise record for strikeouts in a game, whiffing 13 York batters over 6.2 innings. In his two Lancaster seasons, the former Kutztown ace has recorded five games with 10 or more strikeouts, the most in franchise history. Swarmer has fanned 151 strikeouts in 126.2 regular season innings, an average of 10.73 per nine innings of work.
“Swarmer has pitched very well for us the last couple of years,” said Peeples. “He will (again) be a starter for us, and we will always depend on him to eat innings, in which he generally does a good job.”
The right-hander appeared in 11 games for the Cubs in 2022, going 2-3 with a 5.03 ERA with wins over St. Louis and Milwaukee. It was his seventh year in the Chicago system. He opened the 2023 season with the Atlanta Braves at Class AAA Gwinnett.
Lancaster will open its home schedule at Penn Medicine Park against the Gastonia Ghost Peppers on May 2 at 6:45.