Trey Sweeney has helped validate the Detroit Tigers’ trade deadline decisions
DETROIT — The biggest hit Wednesday night in Kansas City came from a rookie shortstop who only two months ago was playing for a completely different organization.
In the third inning, Trey Sweeney ripped a ball down the right-field line. Spencer Torkelson scored easily. Jace Jung dashed from first to second, second to third, then just slid under Salvador Perez 's tag at home. You know the rest. The Detroit Tigers won their fourth straight. After the Minnesota Twins lost Thursday, they are now tied for the final American League wild-card spot.
Not bad for a team that sold at the trade deadline, that jettisoned the majority of its veteran players — Jack Flaherty , Mark Canha , Andrew Chafin and Carson Kelly — in exchange for prospects.
"Trade deadline, we were sellers, and now look at us," Tarik Skubal said Wednesday night.
"The trade deadline happened," outfielder Matt Viering said earlier this week, "and no one really skipped a beat."
The Tigers got significantly younger, and turns out they also got better. With the Tigers beating down the door to the playoffs, revisionist history would suggest that Detroit may now wish it had kept Flaherty, the biggest of its trade deadline shipments. But that would be neglecting the fact pitching has still been the biggest reason for Detroit's run over the past two months. Flaherty has continued to throw well with the Los Angeles Dodgers , posting a 3.40 ERA over nine starts. The Tigers, though, have a team ERA of 2.78 since Aug. 1.
Their pitching has moved forward and somehow not missed Flaherty's impact. Perhaps more importantly, the two players Detroit got back for Flaherty — a return that received varying reviews at the time — look like they could be real pieces moving forward.
Catching prospect Thayron Liranzo was the headliner of the move, a player now ranked inside the top 100 on some prospect lists. After coming to the Tigers' system, Liranzo hit .315 with a 1.031 OPS in 26 games at High-A West Michigan. If he can improve his defense enough to stick behind the plate rather than move to first base, Liranzo's power looks as intriguing as any bat in the Detroit system.
And at the time of the deal, Sweeney felt more like a throw-in, a possible utility infielder with question marks around his hit tool.
Turns out Sweeney came to the Tigers and instantly thrived, too. He hit .381 in 11 games at Triple-A Toledo. By Aug. 16, a player who was a Yankees farmhand in December, was traded to the Dodgers and then got traded again ended up in the big leagues. In Toledo, he took over the room of newly promoted catcher Dillon Dingler . Now in Detroit, he is living in a hotel.
"Don't have to clean the room, bed is made and stuff," he said.
Short-spoken and serious, Sweeney's view of the chaos may help inform some of what he's done on the field.
"Hasn't been crazy or anything," he said. "It's been pretty easy. ... You're always playing baseball during the season, so you got to keep going."
With Javier Báez out for the season after hip surgery, Sweeney has now started 25 games for the Tigers at shortstop. He's done enough to inspire hope he could play a significant role in 2025, too.
On the defensive side, Sweeney has not been perfect. A pop fly that dropped in shallow left field Wednesday night serves as one example. But overall he has impressed. At the time of the trade, some in the scouting world thought Sweeney would ultimately be a second baseman. Others disagreed, and they have so far been proven right. Sweeney grades out at plus-4 defensive runs saved and plus-2 outs above average.
"He's rock solid," manager A.J. Hinch said. "He's been very steady. He makes a lot of simple plays look simple. He's made a couple of difficult plays look very simple. He's showcased arm strength. He's showcased sure-handedness. He's done a nice job of just being a steady player, which is all you ask."
At the plate, there is still much to learn and much to prove. He is hitting only .225 with a .276 on-base percentage, but his four home runs and three doubles have been welcome. In what's often a difficult adjustment period, he has not been totally overwhelmed.
Before his promotion, Tigers shortstops had a combined 52 wRC+, the worst in the league. Since Sweeney's promotion, the Tigers' wRC+ at shortstop is a somewhat improved 76, ranking 20th in MLB .
So far, Sweeney's low walk rate (5.8 percent) and elevated whiff (31.1) and strikeout rates (27.6 percent) are cause for concern. On the flip side, he's largely been on time for fastballs, evidenced by a .308 average against pitches at 95 mph or greater, and he has hit all four of his homers on breaking balls.
"I didn't know him that well before he got here, obviously, but in talking to him his plan is pretty dialed in to what he's trying to do," Hinch said earlier this month. "He can redirect the ball with some strength. I think his temperament is set up for a calm at-bat and under control plan, and he's been pretty good at executing, specifically in some big moments."
Verdicts on deadline deals can take years to cement. In both Liranzo and Sweeney, the years ahead will be the most crucial. But in exchange for a rental pitcher, the Tigers got a tantalizing young hitter and a 24-year-old infielder who has become the team's primary shortstop in the midst of a playoff hunt.
"He's still learning," Hinch said of Sweeney. "He's got a long ways to go and a lot to do to be better, but the foundation that's poured right now is pretty good."
(Top photo: Duane Burleson/)
