If you were to look up the distance from the Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter (now called LoanMart Field) to Dodger Stadium on Google Maps, you would see that it is a short 43.7 miles. But for 23-year-old Dodgers prospect Darnell Sweeney, it has been a much longer journey than that.

Sweeney, who was born and raised in Miami, Florida, was drafted by the Dodgers in the 13th round of the 2012 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Central Florida. He began his professional career in 2012 as a shortstop and second baseman for the Dodgers Rookie League affiliate Ogden Raptors – 2,523 miles from his Florida home. While in Ogden, Sweeney played in 16 games hitting .308 with an excellent .380 on-base percentage and 10 stolen bases which earned him a quick promotion to the Dodgers Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons – 1,759 miles from Ogden, Utah.

While with the Loons, Sweeney continued his hot hitting with a .291 batting average, .372 OBP and 17 stolen bases in the 51 games in which he played exclusively as a shortstop.

Sweeney spent the entire 2013 season with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes – 2,246 miles from Midland, Michigan but only 43.7 from his ultimate destination – Dodger Stadium.

As a member of the Quakes, the switch-hitting Sweeney hit .275 and began to show some pop by hitting 12 home runs and collecting 77 RBIs while stealing a team-high 48 bases. The downside was the excessive number of errors he committed (34 in 481 total chances for a rather dismal .929 fielding percentage). But then came 19-year-old shortstop Corey Seager, who is also on the fast track through the Dodgers farm system. Seager took over the shortstop job and Sweeney was moved to second base. Much like his good friend Dee Gordon, the move appears to be a potential career-changer for Darnell. In the 29 games that he played second base Sweeney committed only two errors in 148 chances for a very good .986 FPCT.

Sweeney began showing some pop in 2013 with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes – including this August 20, 2013 home run against the High Desert Mavericks.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Sweeney’s big break came during spring training 2014 where, as a minor leaguer, he suited up for nearly every Dodgers major league spring training game and appeared in nine of them. In those nine games Sweeney hit .308 (4 for 13) with a double, a stolen base and two RBIs. He played six games at shortstop (committing one error) and two games at second base (with zero errors) for a combined .923 FPCT.

Although Sweeney did not make the trip to Australia with the Dodgers, he was invited to join the team for the annual Freeway Series against the Angels. He had finally made it to Dodger Stadium, even if only for an exhibition series.

Sweeney did not play in the first game of the series. In fact, he did not play defense in any of the three games. He was, however, called upon to fill a role that shakes the knees of even the most grizzled veteran – to pinch hit in the bottom of the 10th inning in a 4-4 tie with runners on the corners and one out. It’s hard to even imagine how nervous Sweeney was.

“I haven’t seen this many fans, I haven’t played in a triple deck like this, ever,” Sweeney said. “It felt good to actually get my feet wet for the first time.”

Hoping for a game-saving double play, Angels manager Mike Scioscia decided to roll the dice with a five-man infield – a tactic that worked earlier in the game resulting in a successful (and extremely rare) 7-2-4 inning-ending double play.

Not this time, Mike.

Sweeney lifted a fly ball to straightaway center field between the two split out fielders for the walk-off hit and an exciting 5-4 Dodgers win.

“It is kind of weird [facing a five-man infield],” said a still excited Sweeney after the game. “All you try to do is hit it in the outfield … You’ve still got to stay with your approach and my approach is to get a ball over the plate that I can put a good swing on and put it in play.”

Sweeney only made one appearance in the annual Dodgers-Angels Freeway Series, but it was a big one. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Asked about the 5.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Southern California during the game, Sweeney said he had never experienced like that before – not even while a member of the… Quakes.

“That’s one thing I wasn’t really looking forward to, the ground shaking.”

Sweeney was given a Powerade shower for his dramatic walk-off single giving the Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Angels on Friday night. (Photo courtesy of @Dodgers)

Even though Sweeney is slated to begin the 2014 season with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, the road ahead of him will be a tough one. With a virtual logjam in the Dodgers middle infield and with several top-ranked prospects ahead of Darnell on the Dodgers depth chart, he will have an extremely difficult time making it back to Dodger Stadium on a permanent basis. But if he continues to play hard on both sides of the ball as he did with the Raptors, Loons and Quakes, there is every reason to believe that he will make it to The Show – although it might be with another MLB team.