The early Philadelphia Phillies returns from Darnell Sweeney

It wasn't enough to save his job as general manager, but Ruben Amaro did some good work adding prospects to the Philadelphia Phillies farm system over the last year. One of his final acquisitions was infielder Darnell Sweeney, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Chase Utley. Sweeney has played regularly in the majors since the trade and has performed, well, exactly like what we should expect from Darnell Sweeney based on his past track record.

The Dodgers drafted Sweeney in the 13th round in 2012 from the University of Central Florida. He's shown a broad range of tools and skills at all levels, demonstrating both power and speed potential. His two seasons in the high minors brought mixed results: .288/.387/.463 with 14 homers, 77 walks, 15 steals, wRC+ 141 with Double-A Chattanooga in 2014, followed by a .271/.332/.409 with nine homers, 42 walks, 32 steals, wRC_+ 96 with Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2015.

His best physical tool is speed but his stolen base success ratios have never been very good and he is still trying to add polish to his physical talent. He flashes above-average power as well but he has contact issues and his strike zone judgment seems to come and go. He doesn't hit for particularly high batting averages. He is error-prone at shortstop but can play second or third base decently and added outfield skills to his brief this year.

Through 18 games in the majors Sweeney has played exactly like you'd expect him to play with this resume: .209/.320/.512, seven walks, 15 strikeouts in 43 at-bats, 0-for-2 in stolen bases. Low batting average? Check. Drawing some walks but also striking out a lot? Check. Showing some power? Check. Caught stealing too often? Check. Playing left field, center field, second base and third base without embarrassing himself? Check.

Assuming they keep running him out there, Sweeney should be expected to hit in .250 territory over a larger sample but with enough secondary contributions and defensive versatility to hold a roster spot. He is still young enough at age 24 to add more polish, which could move him past decency and well into, well, something better.