After a career night with Triple-A Oklahoma City, Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Trey Sweeney has entered the middle infield conversation. He finished the night with four hits and five runs batted in leading the team to a 6-1 win over Albuquerque.
He kicked off the night with an inside-the-park home run and hit two more home runs for his first multi-homer game in his professional career. When asked after the game if he had a hit an inside-the-park before, he mentioned his Little League days.
"Yeah, it's been a long time since I hit one of those," Sweeney said. "I figured I worked so hard to get the first one that I'd just go the easier route for the next two."
The left-handed swinger's 409-foot drive off the center field wall caromed toward right field, allowing Sweeney to race around the bases without a throw.
"When I first hit it, I knew I got a hold of it good," Sweeney explained. "But I also thought he might track it down. Center field here is a long ways away [428 feet]. I was hitting second when I noticed it kicked away and sort of rolled into no-man's land and that's when I realized I had a good shot at [the inside-the-park home run]."
The next two jacks were more traditional. He also mixed in a single for some variety.
His four hits and five RBIs were both career highs. He has hit four home runs in five games and 14 at-bats. He entered the game with two long balls in his previous 44 games and 185 at-bats.
"Just making some small adjustments," Sweeney said about his recent uptick. "I was missing a lot of hittable pitches early on and swinging at pitches I should not have been. I just wasn't seeing the ball really well. It's all about finding something you're confident and comfortable with and I've done that recently."
