Swisher’s Returns: Ryan Sweeney
OF Ryan Sweeney, playing for the Charlotte Knights / photo by Larry Coor (flickr)
Though pitchers Gio Gonzalez ad Fautino de los Santos get most of the attention in the Nick Swisher-to-Chicago deal, outfielder Ryan Sweeney might be the first to make an appearance in the Green and Gold of Oakland.
Sweeney, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was taken in the second round of the 2003 draft with the 52nd overall pick. He was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Year after his senior year of high school — where he was an outstanding two-way player. In 60.0 innings his junior year, he gave up just three earned runs.
In his first taste of pro ball, Sweeney thrived. As an 18-year-old, he hit .313/.387/.448/.835 in 67 at-bats for Bristol in the Appalachian League before hitting .353/.389/.412/.801 in 34 at-bats for Great Falls of the Pioneer League. Over the next three years, he steadily moved up the ranks to high-A, AA, and AAA, before getting a brief stint in the majors in 2006.
With the White Sox, Sweeney had an OPS of just .458, but he was still developing. He returned to AAA in 2007, and put up a line of .270/.348/.398/.746 that was, for him, a bit disappointing, but still solid.
Sweeney also has a plus arm in right-field. He has racked up 49 outfield assists over the last four years — and average of 12 per season. While he’s athletic enough to play an adequate center field right now, it’s likely that his future is as a right-fielder.
Former GM and respected baseball mind Roland Hemond notably once said that watching Sweeney hit gave him goosebumps that he hadn’t felt since seeing a young Harold Baines at the plate. The comparison is apt — Sweeney could very well turn out to be a major-leaguer much like Baines. (Interestingly, Hemond’s son Bob is currently the GM of the Sacramento River Cats.)
If you’d like to see a few Sweeney at-bats, YouTube has plenty. This clip of an at-bat from Spring Training 2007 is a nice demonstration of Sweeney’s patience and sweet swing.
Before the 2007 season, Baseball America tabbed Sweeney as the top prospect in an admittedly thin White Sox farm system. Still, most agree that he stands a good chance of being a big league regular. BA deemed Sweeney as being the best defensive outfielder (including the best arm), and being the best hitter for average in the system.
Sweeney will turn 23 in February, but shouldn’t need to spend too much more time in the minors. It’s entirely possible that he will make the A’s roster out of Spring Training, if he has a strong showing in Arizona. With Nick Swisher gone, and Mark Kotsay a question mark on health in addition to being on the trade block, an outfield of Travis Buck, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Denorfia, Ryan Sweeney and Danny Putnam/Richie Robnett seems likely.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Sacramento, Prospects, Trades.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
THE AUTHOR
RECENT ARTICLES BY MLB AFFILIATE
ARCHIVE
4 Responses to “Swisher’s Returns: Ryan Sweeney”
January 11th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Keith Law on Sweeney:
Outfielder Ryan Sweeney is a scouting enigma, a “five o’clock hitter” who doesn’t carry his batting practice power over into games. During BP he shows plus raw pull power, getting his arms extended and driving the ball to right and right-center; the ball carries well off his bat when he makes contact. He has quick reactions at the plate and strides well into the ball. But during games, he shortens everything up and eschews power in favor of contact, an approach that won’t produce enough offense if he has to play an outfield corner in the big leagues. This could be an artifact of the coaches with whom he’s worked, and a change of scenery would thus be just what he needs, because the power potential is there. He’s no worse than average in center, but he’s plus in left or right.
BA:
Sweeney, 22, had fallen out of favor with the White Sox. A second-round pick out of an Iowa high school in 2003, he performed well in big league camp the following spring and subsequently was rushed by Chicago. Sweeney’s power never has developed and he spent most of 2007 at Triple-A Charlotte, where he hit just .270/.348/.398 with 10 homers and 47 RBIs in 105 games. He wasn’t called up in September, an indication of how the Sox felt about him, though he has played briefly in the majors in each of the last two years, hitting .213/.250/.288 with one homer and 10 RBIs in 33 games. With average speed and a plus arm, he can play any of the three outfield positions. He’ll get a chance to win a starting job with the A’s during spring training.
Jonathan Mayo:
Perhaps a change of scenery is just what the doctor ordered. It may seem like Sweeney has been around forever, but the truth of the matter is he’ll play the 2008 season at the ripe old age of 23. For all of the talk about how he hasn’t developed power, there’s still plenty of time for that. The White Sox pushed him aggressively from the get-go, moving him to the Class A Advanced Carolina League in his first full season at age 19. That put him in Double-A at 20 and put him in position to spend two years in Triple-A to give the appearance of being stuck. He’s gotten a couple of tastes of the big leagues, but never truly long enough to get into any kind of rhythm. He still has a sweet swing from the left side of the plate with a pretty good approach. He’s probably best suited for right field, but he’s shown the ability to handle center if needed. He should be given every opportunity to win an outfield job this spring and could blossom into the kind of player people have been waiting for ever since he made a splash in big league camp as a teenager back in 2004.
January 11th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Thanks for posting the other takes on Sweeney, since I neglected to include them.
It sure seems like there’s a consensus that this guy is still a great prospect, and will make the team for Opening Day — possibly even as a starter.
The more I read about him, and watch his at-bats on YouTube, the more I like Sweeney.
January 11th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I worry about him never developing. From everything I’ve read, he’ll only be a fourth OF.
We’ll have to wait and see.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
[…] Ryan Sweeney: Before the 2007 season, Baseball America tabbed Sweeney as the top prospect in an admittedly thin White Sox farm system. Still, most agree that he stands a good chance of being a big league regular. BA deemed Sweeney as being the best defensive outfielder (including the best arm), and being the best hitter for average in the system. […]
Leave a comment