July 11, 200322 yr Sox Come to Terms With Ryan Sweeney By Jason Gage and Alex Ernst July 11, 2003 FutureSox.com he White Sox and outfielder/left handed pitcher Ryan Sweeney have agreed to a contract. Sweeney, a 2nd round pick, was the last of the first ten White Sox picks that remained to be unsigned. As part of his contract, Sweeney will recieve a $785,000 bonus. He will start play in Great Falls. Many expected Sweeney, 18, to be a difficult sign, but when push came to shove, Sweeney wanted to play professional baseball and the White Sox wanted him to do it in their organization. Sweeney was nearing the end of his senior baeball season for Cedar Rapids Xavier (Iowa). Note: Because of cold weather, Iowa's baseball season starts in late May. Xavier is ranked #1 in Class 3A in the latest Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association poll. They are expected to be one of the favorites for the state title, but the Sweeney signing will hurt those chances. Offensively, Sweeney is batting .493 with seven home runs and 37 RBI. As a pitcher he is 3-1 with a 0.55 ERA. Sweeney was projected as a first round pick by Baseball America and is one of the most talented baseball players to ever come out of Iowa. EDIT: I added the details about the bonus and where he will be playing in the story, Jas. Just so you know ~ Heads Edited July 12, 200322 yr by Soxheads
July 11, 200322 yr Any idea what team he is going to be assigned to after State Championships? Great Falls or Bristol I guess...
July 11, 200322 yr Author Any idea what team he is going to be assigned to after State Championships? Great Falls or Bristol I guess... It would be one of those two teams. He's pretty advance so he could play in Great Falls this year and then move to A ball next season. If he plays in Bristol then he'd be on a bit slower path.
July 12, 200322 yr 785 K? Dear lord, that's almost nothing. Hopefully JR and KW can reel in either Moviel or Veal now.
July 12, 200322 yr 785 K? Dear lord, that's almost nothing. Hopefully JR and KW can reel in either Moviel or Veal now. in the whole draft, i think the sox really lucked out on this yr draft. sweeney is a sure fire 1 rounder, ok a late 1 rounder but nevertheless a 1 rounder who the sox picked up in the 2 round. in addition they picked up a great 3 rounder who i think has the tools to surprise a lot of people. futhermore if they were able to these other 2 players, wow.
July 12, 200322 yr Author 785 K? Dear lord, that's almost nothing. Hopefully JR and KW can reel in either Moviel or Veal now. Dang, sounds like the Sox are doing this really good. I think that they'll only be able to land one of Veal/Moviel but hell this is looking like a damn good draft.
July 12, 200322 yr Author in the whole draft, i think the sox really lucked out on this yr draft. sweeney is a sure fire 1 rounder, ok a late 1 rounder but nevertheless a 1 rounder who the sox picked up in the 2 round. in addition they picked up a great 3 rounder who i think has the tools to surprise a lot of people. futhermore if they were able to these other 2 players, wow. Well Nanita has like a 20 game hitting streak (14th rounder) and he's looking like an absolute steal.
July 12, 200322 yr Definitely seems like the best draft I've ever heard of the Sox having. I hope Nachreiner comes around!
July 12, 200322 yr So what is he gonna be, a pitcher or an outfielder? of'er ref to chifn, you are right about nanita, he came out of no-where. i am surprise about him. you know of another player i am surprise about, clint king. i have yet to find any pre draft info on him. BA does not have anything on him. what gets me is that the sox should have rolled the dice on several other prospect who were rated in the 1 or 2 round that fell like a brick. but oh well, the sox did good by selecting moviel and veil. there is another player who is very intriguing, the 5 th rounder Matt Nachreiner, who has terrible knees but some outstanding stuff.
July 12, 200322 yr I thought Sweeney would get closer to a million... I know this won't be popular and I can hear everyone saying "but he could get hurt" but I am not a big fan of signing this kid before his high school season was complete. In the big picture, his professionally is definitely more important, but it still doesn't sit too well with me that he is now basically leaving his teammates high and dry who are making a run at the State Championship. To be good enough to be ranked #1 in the state, those players had to put in a lot of time and hard work. That is something that really means a lot to those kids, and should to Sweeney as well. I don't discount playing for a Championship at any level as unimportant. Sure, his teammates may "understand" and "support him" but you know damned well that deep down inside they feel somewhat betrayed. Now if I have incomplete information and his team just recently lost in the playoffs and his season is over, then someone please correct me. However, if that is not the case, then my thoughts are why in the hell could you not have let him play for 2-3 more weeks??
July 12, 200322 yr I thought Sweeney would get closer to a million... I know this won't be popular and I can hear everyone saying "but he could get hurt" but I am not a big fan of signing this kid before his high school season was complete. In the big picture, his professionally is definitely more important, but it still doesn't sit too well with me that he is now basically leaving his teammates high and dry who are making a run at the State Championship. To be good enough to be ranked #1 in the state, those players had to put in a lot of time and hard work. That is something that really means a lot to those kids, and should to Sweeney as well. I don't discount playing for a Championship at any level as unimportant. Sure, his teammates may "understand" and "support him" but you know damned well that deep down inside they feel somewhat betrayed. Now if I have incomplete information and his team just recently lost in the playoffs and his season is over, then someone please correct me. However, if that is not the case, then my thoughts are why in the hell could you not have let him play for 2-3 more weeks?? The Iowa High School Baseball Playoffs have not yet started....
July 12, 200322 yr Author of'er ref to chifn, you are right about nanita, he came out of no-where. i am surprise about him. you know of another player i am surprise about, clint king. i have yet to find any pre draft info on him. BA does not have anything on him. what gets me is that the sox should have rolled the dice on several other prospect who were rated in the 1 or 2 round that fell like a brick. but oh well, the sox did good by selecting moviel and veil. there is another player who is very intriguing, the 5 th rounder Matt Nachreiner, who has terrible knees but some outstanding stuff. Ya Nachreiner has exceptional stuff. 1st round stuff, but he has absolutely no knees. King is a great hitter with some power potential. He may not of been highly touted but the guy has some skills. He has struggled with Great Falls though. The next Draft breakdown will be on Monday and then we'll be rolling it out each day the rest of the week.
July 12, 200322 yr Author Could he of signed a deal that allows him to finish his season? It wouldn't be standard cause there are the possibilities of him getting injured, but I'm just throwing it out there. Or maybe he talked to his teammates about it and they said for him to sign. I dunno. I do think it would of been a great thing for him to play his entire senior season.
July 12, 200322 yr Re: Sweeney, I really like the good strike zone judgement aspect of his game. Oakland has always preached that, and they're traditionally a good team. I like that the Sox went after some stud position players in this years draft. Reed could be patroling CF by late 2004, if not sooner.
July 12, 200322 yr Author Some power? I thought King was around the top in D1 in HRs and SLG%. Yep, he was, but Its hard to say how that will transfer with wood bats.
July 12, 200322 yr Wow less than a mil for basically a first round pick. He wasn't that hard at all to sign, and thanks to whoever started that rumor!
July 13, 200322 yr Could he of signed a deal that allows him to finish his season? It wouldn't be standard cause there are the possibilities of him getting injured, but I'm just throwing it out there. Or maybe he talked to his teammates about it and they said for him to sign. I dunno. I do think it would of been a great thing for him to play his entire senior season. Jason, if he signed a professional contract, then he's done with HS ball. He would lose his amateur status just by signing it.
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