The Dynasty Digest: May 30, 2024

Chris Clegg breaks down everything that happened in the Minors yesterday.

Cover photo with image of Trey Sweeney from DodgerBlue.com

Thanks all for letting me take the day off yesterday for the birth of our daughter. It was a wild one, but be sure to check out the story here if you haven’t heard.

Things couldn’t keep me down long though and back to the Minor League coverage and grind. Hopefully prospect rankings will drop tonight or tomorrow, but for now, here is a breakdown of everything that happened in the Minors yesterday.

MiLB Hitters

Trey Sweeney, SS, LAD, 24, AAA

Sweeney earns the nod at the top of the sheet after hitting three home runs, one being an inside-the-park home run, and adding a fourth hit via a single. It feels like Sweeney has been around forever, but in reality, the former first-rounder is in just his third full season of minor league baseball.

The results have been fine in his first year with the Dodgers organization after being traded from the Yankees this offseason. Sweeney has a slash of .246/.346/.417 with seven home runs and eight stolen bases in 49 games.

Under the hood, things look quite good for Sweeney, who has a 106 mph 90th percentile exit velocity, exhibiting a plus power great. The average exit velocity is in a similar range at 92 mph. Sweeney was known for having a contact-oriented profile in college, but his 73 percent contact and 82 percent in-zone contact are closer to average. However, his 24 percent chase rate is quite strong, considering the higher in-zone swing rate.

I have held steady on my ranking of Sweeney over the years, hovering around 250 overall.

Kristian Campbell, INF/OF, BOS, 21, A+

Campbell had a three hit day which included a double and a home run, his eight of the year. The slash line now sits at .298/.408/.557, but the strikeout rate has hovered around 28 percent all season.

Campbell was the Red Sox fourth-round pick in 2023 out of Georgia Tech and was actually the only college draftee to have an average exit velocity over 90 mph and an overall contact rate higher than 90 percent.

The Red Sox made some tweaks in Campbell’s swing this offseason and were very high on him internally. After not hitting a ball harder than 109 mph with metal last year in college, Campbell has already eclipsed that mark multiple times and has home runs this year of 113 and 110 mph, with one of those home runs traveling 450 feet. The 90th percentile exit velocity is actually rather close to his max in college last year.

Surprisingly, he has been striking out quite a bit, but given the history of contact, I would bank on Campbell getting back to his ways. Right now it seems Campbell is selling out a bit for power as the in-zone miss rate is a little higher. Blending the best of both worlds will likely happen soon and Campbell could ascend up rankings.

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