Trey Thomas Sweeney (born April 24, 2000) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Eastern Illinois Panthers The Eastern Illinois Panthers are the intercollegiate athletic programs of Eastern Illinois University (EIU) located in Charleston, Illinois, United States. The Panthers athletic program competes at the NCAA Division I level and is a member of th ...

. He was selected by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

in the first round of the

2021 MLB draft The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was s ...

and traded to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in 2023 and Detroit Tigers in 2024. He made his MLB debut with the Tigers in 2024.

Amateur career

Sweeney grew up in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, and attended St. Xavier High School. As a senior, he batted .389 with 41 RBIs and 18 stolen bases as St. Xavier won the state championship. Sweeney committed to play baseball at

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is a public university in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradual ...

, which was the only Division I school to offer him a scholarship. Sweeney played

for the

for three seasons. He became a starter as a freshman and was named to the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

(OVC) All-Freshman team after batting .266 with 61 total bases, 27 runs scored, and 24

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs). After the season, Sweeney played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the Lafayette Aviators of the

Prospect League The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their colleg ...

and was named a league All-Star after slashing .354/.453/.524 in 257 plate appearances. He batted .351 as a sophomore before the season was cut short due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. As a redshirt sophomore, Sweeney was named the OVC Player of the Year after he hit .382 with 14 home runs and 58 RBIs and was a finalist for the

Brooks Wallace Award The Brooks Wallace Award is an award given by the College Baseball Foundation (CBF) to the best college baseball shortstop of the year. The award has been given annually since 2004. Until 2008 the award was presented to the nation's most outstand ...

. Due to his performance he became rated as one of the best college batting prospects in the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was s ...

Professional career

New York Yankees

The

selected Sweeney in the first round, with the 20th overall pick, in the

. On July 19, 2021, Sweeney signed with the Yankees. He was assigned to the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Florida Complex League Yankees The Florida Complex League Yankees are a Rookie-level affiliate of the New York Yankees, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball ...

to start his professional career and was later promoted to the

Tampa Tarpons The Tampa Tarpons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Tampa, Florida. The Tarpons play their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is a ...

of the

Low-A Southeast The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

. Over 32 games between the two teams, Sweeney slashed .261/.384/.584 with seven home runs and 14 RBIs. He opened the 2022 season with the

Hudson Valley Renegades The Hudson Valley Renegades are a Minor League Baseball team based in Fishkill, New York. The High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, the Renegades play in the South Atlantic League. The Renegades play their home games at Heritage Financial Pa ...

of the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

. Sweeney was promoted to the Double-A

Somerset Patriots The Somerset Patriots are an American professional Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team based in Bridgewater, New Jersey. They are the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They compete in the Eastern League (EL), known as the Double-A Nort ...

after batting .241 with 14 home runs and 51 RBIs in 100 games played with Hudson Valley.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On December 11, 2023, the Yankees traded Sweeney to the

in exchange for Victor González and Jorbit Vivas. Sweeney was selected to participate in the inaugural "Spring Breakout" minor league showcase during

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

2024 and he was assigned to the Triple–A

Oklahoma City Baseball Club The Oklahoma City Comets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and play their home games at Chickasaw Bricktown Bal ...

to start the season, where he hit .255 in 96 games with 13 homers and 62 RBI.

Detroit Tigers

On July 30, 2024, the Dodgers traded Sweeney and Thayron Liranzo to the

in exchange for

Jack Flaherty Jack Rafe Flaherty (, born October 15, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, and Los Angeles Dodg ...

. In 11 games for the Triple–A

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A baseball team nicknamed the ...

, he batted .381/.447/.667 with two home runs, nine RBI, four stolen bases. On August 16, Sweeney was selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his Major League debut the same day, against the New York Yankees, the team by which he was originally drafted. In 2024, Sweeney played 36 games for the Tigers, hitting .218 with 4 home runs and 17 RBI.

References

External links

Eastern Illinois Panthers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Trey 2000 births Living people Baseball players from Louisville, Kentucky Detroit Tigers players Eastern Illinois Panthers baseball players Florida Complex League Yankees players Hudson Valley Renegades players Major League Baseball shortstops Oklahoma City Baseball Club players Somerset Patriots players St. Xavier High School (Louisville) alumni Tampa Tarpons players Toledo Mud Hens players Wilson Tobs players