Ryan Who?

Now, you may be wondering who the hell Ryan Sweeney is...

He was a second round pick for the Sox in 2003, the same year Brain Anderson was taken (in the first round). He hit .298 for the Birmingham Barons last year in Double-A as a 20 year-old, but he hasn’t received that much hype outside the organization. This is probably due to the fact that he displayed Ozzie Smith like power with only 1 HR and only had 47 RBI. He showed a little more power the year before with 7 HR and 66 RBI, but that still won’t cut it for a corner in fielder.

This spring, however, he seems to have found some power. In just 36 AB he already has 3 HR. Think about it, that’s three times as many homers as he had ALL of last season. It’s not as though he’s sacrificing his hitting for power, he’s not pulling a Frank Thomas and either getting out or hitting a yardball; he’s hit these homers while maintaining a .333 average. He’s also toting a robust 1.029 OPS. I don’t know where this power surge has come from (please don’t be steroids), but if he continues like this is AAA he may find himself joining Anderson in the bigs.

6 days 'til Opening Day!