Home Cookin' for Swafford - Los Angeles Times
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Travel & Experiences

Home Cookin’ for Swafford

By STEVE HENSON
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After bouncing around the bottom rungs of the Pittsburg Pirates’ minor-league ladder for five years, Derek Swafford (Ventura High) will play close to home this season, for the Oxnard-based Pacific Suns of the independent Western League. Swafford, a third-round pick by the Pirates in the 1993 draft, was released after batting .238 in 60 Class-A games last season. The second baseman’s best seasons were 1995, when he batted .253 with 52 stolen bases in the Class-A South Atlantic League, and ‘96, when he hit .259 with 35 stolen bases in the Class-A Carolina League. The Suns begin their season May 23 and will play home games at Oxnard College.

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Steve Henson

Steve Henson is a breaking news and enterprise reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as an editor and reporter in the Sports department. Henson was a leader in digital-only newsrooms from 2007-19 as a senior editor and columnist at Yahoo Sports and as senior editor at the USA Today Sports Media Group. This is his second stint at The Times, having covered the Dodgers and UCLA as well as doing enterprise, investigative and features writing from 1985-2007. Henson was awarded first place in sports features in 2023 and in 2021 by the L.A. Press Club. He has been honored several times by APSE — most recently in 2023 and 2021 — and also by the California News Publishers Assn., the Football Writers Assn. of America and U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.

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