LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Basketball and football drive the sports conversation in this town. But they are no longer the sports that have produced the most major leaguers.
Play ball.
That sport is baseball.
There are not yet enough players to fill an entire home grown Louisville lineup of major leaguers, but we're trending in that direction with five former Louisville high school players in the big leagues.
"It's huge," Trinity coach Rick Arnold said. "It says a lot about how much high school baseball has taken off and improved in this area."
"More players in this area are reaching their ceiling than ever before," said Chris Burke, a college baseball analyst for ESPN.
There's Will Smith of Kentucky Country Day High School and University of Louisville, an all-star catcher working on trying to win his second World Series ring with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There's Brandon Pfaadt of Trinity and Bellarmine, who is trying to pitch the Arizona Diamondbacks into back-to-back World Series.
There is Adam Duvall of Butler and U of L, who earned one World Series ring with the 2014 Giants and another with the 2021 Braves. He's back with the Braves, chasing another wild card opportunity.
There is Jo Adell of Ballard, the 2017 first-round pick of the Angels, who has delivered career highs of 18 home runs and 54 runs batted in for Los Angeles this summer.
Over the weekend, the number swelled to five when former St. Xavier star Trey Sweeney completed his three-year journey from first-round draft pick to starting major league shortstop with the Detroit Tigers.
Sweeney's welcome to the big leagues included two at bats against Yankees' Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, an infield single in his third at bat and the opportunity to score the tying run in the 10th inning of Detroit's 3-2 comeback victory over the Yankees in a game played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, that aired Sunday night on ESPN.
Sweeney debuted in front of 21 family members, friends and high school teammates as well as Andy Porta, who coached Sweeney at St. Xavier. The entire group celebrated on the field with keepsake pictures after the game.
"Just very exciting and gratifying to see Trey get rewarded for his hard work," Porta said. "He was a little bit of a late bloomer but he was one of those kids who always wanted you to hit him an extra bucket of balls after practice."
If you're scoring at home, that is a catcher, a starting pitcher, a shortstop and a pair of outfielders. The local pipeline needs to get to work on more infielders, a center fielder and some bullpen arms.
The last time there were more local products in the big leagues was 2005 when three St. Xavier products (Chris Burke, Matt Anderson and Paul Byrd) were joined by relief pitcher Scott Downs of Pleasure Ridge Park; Trever Miller, a relief pitcher from Trinity and Todd Wellemeyer, a pitcher from Eastern High School.
But there were several decades when there weren't any Louisville natives in the big leagues. After Hall of Famer shortstop Pee Wee Reese retired from the Dodgers following the 1958 season until Burke debuted with the Astros in 2004, there was a 56-season gap in every day position players produced from local high schools.
(Multiple readers and callers reminded me that Moe Thacker caught for the Cubs from 1958-to-1963 but he was a part-time player who never played in more than 65 games in any season. Thacker, a graduate of Manual, logged 158 games over five seasons.)
"I don't think you'll ever see a gap of even a decade in position players again," Burke said. "There are too many players working too hard at the game."
What's changed?
"High school baseball and travel baseball have gotten better," Arnold said.
"And the success of University of Louisville baseball has brought more professional scouts to the area. They'll come here for a weekend U of L series and while they're in town they'll run out and catch a few high school games so there's more exposure."
Burke also credited Dan McDonnell and the U of L program. "Dan really brought more attention to the game of baseball with his success at Louisville," Burke said. "And he did it by building a culture of exceptional work ethic. More players have seen what is possible."
Smith remains the headliner, after signing a 10-year, $140 million contract with the Dodgers. Although Smith has struggled since the All-Star break with only one home run and seven runs batted while batting .154, Smith ranks second among National League catchers with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs.
Pfaadt has been one of the best pitchers in the National League the last two months. He's won his last four starts, improving his record to 7-6. Pfaadt has not lost a game since June 19.
He struck out 11 without a walk in his last start, joining Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson and Zac Gallen as the only pitchers in Diamondbacks' history to strike out 11 without a walk twice in one season.
Duvall, who will turn 36 years old on Sept. 4, is fighting to hold his spot in the Braves lineup. He's 1 for 29 with a single with 17 strikeouts in his last 11 games.
At 25, Adell has spent his first full season in the big leagues, collecting 30 extra-base hits while serving as the Angels' starting right fielder.
And, finally, the word from Detroit over the weekend was that Sweeney would likely split time at shortstop with Javier Baez, the Tigers' under-performing $140 million shortstop
Drafted in the first round by the Yankees out of Eastern Illinois University in 2021, Sweeney was traded to the Dodgers last December. Los Angeles packaged Sweeney with another player in a deal for starting pitcher Jack Flaherty last month.
With Sweeney hitting 15 home runs and driving home 71 runs while stealing 20 bases for a pair of Class AAA teams, the Tigers decided to give him the final six weeks to audition for the 2025 starting job.
Unless Sweeney gets 131 at bats, he will retain eligibility for rookie of the year consideration next season.
"The defensive profile has always been really good," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch told Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.
"And you can't deny the short burst of performance that he's had while he's been a Mud Hen. Even leading into the trade, when we talked about getting him, we talked about his ability to impact the game on multiple sides of the ball, not just a defensive specialist but also a left-handed bat and a middle-of-the-field player.
"He's got bat-to-ball skills. He's got some power. He can direct the ball to left-center field, oppo (opposite field), which is always your traditional view of a good hitter who can handle moving the ball around the field."
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