Mike Sweeney  
Starting Pitcher | Minnesota Horde

Pitching
Sweeney is a control pitcher; when he's on he has pinpoint control. Sweeney has to keep the ball down, especially against lefties, or he gets hit hard and often. His fastball gets into the high 80s, but it's the sink that makes the pitch effective. When you throw a curveball, it better break. Hanging curves equal earned runs in this league, you just can't get away with them. Unfortunately, Sweeney's curveball tends to hang. Dating back to his days in the minors, Sweeney has been more effective against righthanders than lefthanders.

Defense & Hitting
Sweeney does an average job of holding runners. He tends to fall off slightly to the first-base side of the mound, making him vulnerable to bunts toward third base. He makes up for that minor flaw by being aggressive in fielding his position. Sweeney is a surpisingly good hitting pitcher. And I'm not sure you can say this about a pitcher, but Sweeney has some pop in his swing.

          -- Moostard Nyman
 

 

Year Team AS EN CO HR GF vL Hm Sc CL FB CU SI SL CB SC KN Age Exp Delivery Slot CH PH SP FA Nyman Rating
1998 TEX C 55 42 42 52 53 53 52 49 49 23 2 AA/AAA 62 52 . 247
1999 CIN 76 66 58 52 50 42 53 52 49 63 0 51 58 33 0 0 23 0 Overhand Low Minors 21 14 46 41 273
2000 CIN 78 66 72 54 50 42 53 52 49 63 0 51 58 33 0 0 24 0 Overhand Active 0 0 2 45 292
2001 CIN 78 66 82 57 50 42 53 52 49 63 0 54 58 33 0 0 25 1 Overhand Active 0 0 0 49 308
2002 CIN 91 66 88 48 50 42 53 52 49 63 0 54 58 33 0 0 26 2 Overhand Active 0 0 0 40 321
2003 CIN 91 66 98 51 50 42 53 52 49 63 0 56 58 33 0 0 27 3 Overhand Active 0 0 0 43 336
2004 CIN 89 66 99 55 50 42 53 52 49 63 0 56 59 33 0 0 28 4 Overhand Active 0 0 0 45 339
2005 CIN 90 66 99 56 50 42 53 52 49 64 0 56 59 33 0 0 29 5 Overhand DL 0 0 0 47 342
2006 SAN 90 66 99 56 50 42 53 52 49 64 0 58 59 33 0 0 30 6 Overhand Active 0 0 0 48 342
2007 SAN 88 66 99 57 50 42 53 52 49 64 0 58 59 33 0 0 31 7 Overhand Active 0 0 0 48 339
2008 MIN 91 66 99 58 50 42 53 52 49 64 0 58 59 33 0 0 32 8 Overhand Active 0 0 0 49 343
2009 MIN 91 66 99 59 50 42 53 52 49 64 0 58 59 38 0 0 33 9 Overhand Active 0 0 0 48 350
2010 MIN 89 66 99 58 50 42 53 52 49 64 0 58 59 38 0 0 34 10 Overhand Active 0 0 0 48 345
Ratings Delta   -2     -1                         +1 +1             -5
History generated by Biorhythm v2.6.86 on Sun Nov 14 13:28:08 EST 2004

Data printed in red denotes that player was in the top two percent for that category and year. Blue data denotes membership to the bottom two percent.