Selected in the first round (No. 20 overall) in the 2021 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees out of Eastern Illinois... signed with the Yankees on July 19, 2021 and received a $3 million signing bonus, just under the $3,242,900 slot value for the No. 20 overall pick... hit .382/.522/.712 with 14 home runs in 48 games in 2021 at Eastern Illinois and was named the Ohio Valley Conference's Player of the Year... was considered one of the best college hitters in the 2021 Draft class... MLB Pipeline ranked him the No. 55 prospect in the 2021 Draft class... Yankees invited Sweeney to workout for the club in front of Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice president of domestic amateur scouting, who was sold on the lefty-swinging infielder... Sweeney is the second shortstop the Yankees have selected in the first round of their past three drafts (2019-2021), along with Anthony Volpe, who was taken 30th overall in 2019... Sweeney began the 2022 season with High-A Hudson Valley and hit .241 with 14 homers and 51 RBIs in 100 games before the Yankees promoted him to Double-A Somerset on Sept. 7, 2022; he made his Eastern League debut that afternoon at Hartford.
At Eastern Illinois, Sweeney appeared in 117 games over three seasons from 2019-2021... was limited to 14 games in 2020 when the season was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic... hit .328 with 17 homers, 96 RBIs and 7 steals in his college career... majored in accounting... in 2021 he was named first team All-American by Baseball America, Perfect Game and ABCA becoming first player in program history to earn first team All-American honors at the NCAA Division I level (fifth ever program first team All-American)... became the third-highest player drafted in EIU history... prior to EIU, he played baseball at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky where he hit .389 as a senior with 41 RBIs and 18 stolen bases... led team to Kentucky State Baseball Championship as a senior.
Honors at Eastern Illinois include:
- 2021 - 1st Team All-American (Baseball America, Perfect Game, ABCA)
- 2021 - 3rd Team All-American (NCBWA)
- 2021 - 1st Team All-Region
- 2021 - Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year
- 2021 - 1st Team All-OVC (Shortstop)
- 2021 - CoSIDA Academic All-District V
Double-A Affiliate
