Tigers To Promote Trey Sweeney

The Tigers are calling up shortstop prospect Trey Sweeney, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN on X. He just recently came to the organization from the Dodgers in the deadline trade that sent Jack Flaherty to Los Angeles. Sweeney is not currently on the 40-man roster, so the Tigers will need to make a corresponding move to add him.

Sweeney, 24, was a first-round pick of the Yankees, getting selected 20th overall in 2021. He made a brief professional debut after that draft selection and then got a lengthier run the following year. In 2022, he got into 111 games between High-A and Double-A, hitting 16 home runs in that time. He was struck out in 23.2% of his plate appearances but drew walks at a strong 13% clip. His .240/.349/.413 batting line translated to a 111 wRC+, indicating he was 11% better than league average.

Going into 2023, Baseball America ranked him the #15 prospect in the Yankees’ system. Their report at that time noted that he didn’t have a standout tool but that he was generally solid across the board. On the 20-80 scouting scale, they gave him either a 45 or a 50 in the five categories of hit, power, speed, fielding and arm.

Sweeney would have been challenged to carve out a role as a regular shortstop in the Bronx with Anthony Volpe seemingly set at that spot, which is perhaps why the Yankees were willing to make him available. Back in December, Sweeney was traded to the Dodgers for left-hander Victor González and minor league infielder Jorbit Vivas.

Moving to the Dodgers didn’t go especially well for Sweeney. He got into 96 Triple-A games this year, hitting 13 home runs but also striking out at a 26.8% clip. In the hitter-friendly environs of the Pacific Coast League, his .254/.334/.427 batting line translated to an 87 wRC+.

As mentioned, the Dodgers flipped Sweeney to the Tigers in the Flaherty deal, alongside Thayron Liranzo. Some evaluators considered the return for Flaherty on the lighter side, especially compared with what the Blue Jays received from the Astros for Yusei Kikuchi. Flaherty and Kikuchi were the top two rental starters available at last month’s deadline but Flaherty was considered the greater prize on account of his higher ceiling and stronger 2024 campaign.

After the deadline, reports emerged that the Yankees walked away from a Flaherty trade due to concerns about his medical. In the eyes of some, that explained the disconnect with those trades but Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris didn’t share that framing. “I completely reject the premise,” Harris said when asked about the Tigers getting less for Flaherty than the Jays got for Kikuchi, per Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic on X. “These players we got are really good. We had opportunities to make different deals with different teams. This is the deal we chose for a reason.”

Grading the trades is something that can be endlessly debated for now and won’t truly be settled for years. But since being traded a second time, Sweeney has been red hot. He has played 11 games at Triple-A Toledo since the deal and has hit .381/.447/.667. He won’t maintain a .500 batting average on balls in play forever but he has hit a couple of home runs, stolen four bases and drawn walks at a 10.6% clip.

The Tigers are 7.5 games back of a playoff spot and focused more on the future than 2024, which is why they traded Flaherty as well as Andrew Chafin, Carson Kelly and Mark Canha. Shortstop has been a big hole for them in recent years thanks to the massive struggles of Javier Báez. Going into 2022, the club signed him to a six-year, $140MM deal but he has hit .221/.263/.346 since then for a wRC+ of 69. Among qualified hitters in that stretch, only Nicky Lopez and Myles Straw have a lower wRC+.

With just over six weeks left to go in the season, the Tigers will give Sweeney a chance to face major league pitching and see if he can maybe provide them with a solution at shortstop. If he succeeds, it would make for an interesting offseason. The Báez deal still has three more seasons on it after this one and he won’t have any trade value with his poor performance at the plate.

However, it’s worth pointing out that even the top prospects often struggle in their first exposure to the major leagues, so there’s a decent chance that won’t be an immediate concern. It’s entirely possible that Sweeney gets a bit of acclimation to major league life but may still find himself ticketed for more Triple-A time in the future. Sweeney has also played a bit of third base while Báez has previously bounced around the diamond in his career.

Time will tell how things play out at the shortstop position in Detroit. But for now, it’s an exciting moment for Sweeney, who will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.