The Minnesota Twins made their second signing of the undrafted free agent period, bringing in lanky starter/reliever Lucas Sweany.
The period for signing undrafted players continued today, and the Minnesota Twins picked up one of the tallest pitchers in their minor leagues with pitcher Lucas Sweany, a left-handed pitcher from Pacific University.
This is a slightly different signing than the Twins scooping John Stankiewicz, as Stankiewicz was an All-American, three-year starter at Fordham, while Sweany pitched just 38 games at Pacific, and 25 of those came as a reliever.
This is a big question for the young man, as he was supposed to be a starting pitcher for pacific this year and move out of the bullpen, but he only made three starts before COVID-19 cut the season short.
With all this in mind, there isn’t a lot of information on Sweany, practically anywhere. I checked all the major sites, but I couldn’t even figure out his top miles per hour numbers (the ones below are from four years ago). It was shocking to me how little there was about this guy.
He does have the ability to throw four pitches, which is always a nice thing to have, but I’m not positive how fast or reliable they are. The one thing I could find were his stats, and to say they aren’t impressive is underselling it:
- Freshman Year: 20 G, 6 GS, 1-5 W-L, 4.89 ERA, 40-13 K-BB
- Sophomore Year: 14 G, 4 GS, 3-3 W-L, 3.97 ERA, 39-16 K-BB
- Junior Year: 4 G, 3 GS, 0-3 W-L, 5.40 ERA, 14-3 K-BB
While most of his numbers aren’t impressive, one number should: his strikeout to walk ratio. Sweany struck out sixty-one more batters than he walked, showing some excellent command. I’m assuming there has to be some good stuff there too to put up numbers like that.
In addition, Sweany is 6’6″ and only 195 pounds according to Baseball Reference. If Sweany can build into that frame, there are the makings of a pretty good starter or reliever there, and in a system lacking left-handed pitchers, this is a nice move.
Signing Sweany is a bit of gamble for the Minnesota Twins, but as an undrafted player with a lot of projection in his frame, don’t be surprised if he turns out to be a really good pitcher. That being said, Sweany is really raw, like his stats indicate, so we’ll see with him and we’ll hope for the best!
Just for fun though, check out Sweany’s video he posted when he was younger, it gives you a clearer picture of his form and skills. Do remember though, this was four years old: