When you think of the top prospects within the Dodgers organization you usually think of Joc Pederson, Corey Seager and Julio Urias, and with very good cause – all three are nationally ranked as top prospects. But if you spent any time at Camelback Ranch last spring, you would have noticed another Dodgers prospect who saw quite a bit of playing time with the big league club – shortstop prospect Darnell Sweeney.

Sweeney, who is one of seven Dodgers prospects on the Glendale Desert Dogs of the prestigious Arizona Fall League (AFL), had himself a game on Tuesday afternoon. The often overlooked 23-year-old Miramar, Florida native went 3 for 5 with a double, a home run and five RBIs leading the Desert Dogs to a 8-4 win over the Scottsdale Scorpions, giving his Dodgers teammate Matt Magill his second win of the fall.

Darnell Sweeney had a career game on Tuesday in the Arizona Fall League. And while Corey Seager may be getting most of the ink, Sweeney has quietly become the second best hitter in the league with only two games remaining. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Dodgers drafted Sweeney in the 13th round of the 2012 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Central Florida. He began his professional career with the Ogden Raptors of the short season Pioneer Rookie League where he found immediate success with a triple slash of .303 / .380 / .379 for an OPS of .759 after only 16 games, thus earning a promotion to the Dodgers Low Single-A affiliate Great Lakes Loons. Sweeney continued to do well at the higher level finishing out the 2012 season hitting .291 / .372 / .447 / .819 at Great Lakes. He also began to show a little pop slugging five home runs and collecting 23 RBIs. His combined 27 stolen bases began drawing comparisons to Dodgers speedster Dee Gordon, with whom he is a close friend. (Darnell even wears uniform number 9 in honor of his friend Dee).

Sweeney spent the entire 2013 season with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the highly competitive California League where he hit his first bump in the road. Although Sweeney put together a triple slash of .275 / .329 / .455 for an OPS of .784, he struggled defensively at shortstop where he committed 34 errors (no, that’s not a typo) in 481 total chances for an abysmal .929 fielding percentage. But as they say, “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor” and Sweeney’s difficulties at shortstop led to the promotion of (then) 19-year-old shortstop phenom Corey Seager with Sweeney being moved over to second base – a move which proved to be a very good one for all parties involved. Sweeney committed only two errors at second base in 148 chances for a much better .986 FPCT. (The likenesses continued between Sweeney and Gordon).

During spring training 2014, Sweeney appeared in nine games with the big club – six at shortstop, two at second base and once as a pinch hitter. He finished the spring going 4 for 13 (.308) with a double, two RBIs and a stolen base. Unfortunately, he was significantly overshadowed by his good friend Dee Gordon at second base and didn’t stand a chance at shortstop with Hanley Ramirez having a lock on the position.

Sweeney spent all of 2014 at Double-A Chattanooga where he began playing in the outfield in addition to second base and shortstop. He played 81 games at second base, 28 at shortstop and 23 in the outfield – and he struggled defensively at all of them. He made 16 errors at second base (.958 FPCT), 12 at shortstop (.897), and four as an outfielder (.922). Needless to say, these are not the kind of defensive numbers that get you to the big leagues.

Heading into the final week of play in the AFL Sweeney has appeared in 17 games. He is currently hitting .338 (tied for second in the league) with an on-base percentage of .413 (fifth), a slugging percentage of .507 (sixth) for an excellent OPS of .920 (fourth). Ironically, the AFL does not keep track of fielding stats on their website but a search of the box scores revealed that Sweeney has committed six errors in the 17 games in which he has played – five at second base and one at shortstop. He played center field in two games where he did not commit an error.

The painfully brutal truth is that while Darnell Sweeney is an above average offensive player, his defensive skills may prevent him from ever making it to the show. That being said, he might… might be able to make it to the big leagues as an outfielder (more than likely as a utility outfielder) but if there is anything that the Dodgers currently do not need right now is another outfielder – utility or otherwise. As such, one has to believe that the extremely likable Sweeney will be on the trading block this winter, probably as part of a package deal. The good news in this regard is that Sweeney is not Rule 5 Draft-eligible, so he will not be lost if left unprotected.

But regardless of what the future may hold for Darnell Sweeney, he will always be able to look back at November 11, 2014 as one of, if not the best games of his professional career, and nobody can take that away from him – not ever.