Where Are They Now: Brian Sweeney

From the Mariners to the Padres, with a little bit of Japanese baseball mixed in and then back to the Mariners, Brian Sweeney has had a very long baseball career. The right-handed pitcher will now be calling Arizona his home.  

Sweeney began his professional career in 1997 at the age of 23 with Lancaster, the Mariners High A affiliate at the time. He spent 8 long years playing in the Mariners minor league organization before he finally made his major league debut. In 2003, his rookie season, he actually did pretty well in the small amount of time. The reliever had a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings. During that 2003 season, Sweeney was traded to the Padres along with Jeff Cirillo.

In 2004, Sweeney spent time at both AAA and the big league level. In his major league stint with the Padres that year, he had a 5.65 ERA in 14.1 innings. Sweeney spent all of 2005 in the minors but in 2006, he saw his most action in a single season at the big league level of his career. In 56.1 innings, Sweeney had a 3.20 ERA and 2 saves. Those are valuable numbers to have in any bullpen. That proved to be Sweeney’s last season with the Padres, as he decided to test is stuff in Japan.

From 2007-2009, Sweeny played for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese Pacific League. His stats were nothing special, a 4.10 ERA in 390.2 innings pitched. He pitched primarily as a starter, 63 of his 70 appearances were starts. Sweeney got a chance to play with Yu Darvish, one of Japan’s top starting pitchers who is only 24 years old.

After a long journey, Sweeney returned to Seattle when he signed a minor league contract prior to the 2010 season. In the middle of the season, he was called up to replace Ian Snell who was designated for assignment. Sweeney performed pretty well at the big league level last year. He had a very solid 3.16 ERA in 37.0 IP.

At the beginning of this offseason, the Mariners announced that the Arizona Diamondbacks claimed Sweeney off of waivers. He is now 36 and he will be competing for a job in Arizona as a non-roster invitee this Spring Training. He has a shot to compete for a job in Arizona’s bullpen and he could be decent relief depth. Yes he is 36, but his career numbers at the big league level are pretty surprising. He has a 3.38 ERA in 117 IP. You would think with those numbers he would have seen more time at the big league level. He does not have good strikeout numbers at all but what he does offer is good command. He has a career 1.93 BB/9 which is well below the league average.

Best of luck to Brian Sweeny as he looks to continue his long professional baseball career.