Former HBCU Baseball standout makes MLB debut
Devin Sweet, a former North Carolina Central right-handed pitcher, made his Major League Baseball debut for the Seattle Mariners this past Wednesday July 19th against the Minnesota Twins.
Sweet allowed one hits and two earned runs in one innings of relief, walking one in the Mariners’ 6-3 loss at Seattle.
The Mariners promoted Sweet to the big-league club from the Double-A Arkansas Travelers, the team announced Tuesday.
The Arkansas Travelers, also known as The Travs, are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Travelers are the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners and are members of the Texas League.
In 27 relief appearances with Arkansas this season, Sweet is 4-1 with 5 saves and a 1.54 earned run average with 8 walks and 47 strikeouts. Sweet ranks 2nd in earn run average and 3rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio 5.88 among Texas League pitchers this season.
Sweet, a four-year starter at NCCU from 2014-2018 who set pitching records with 18 wins, 246 strikeouts, 59 appearances in 41 starts.
Sweet, was a second team Black College Nines HBCU Baseball All-Elite team member in 2016 as a sophomore, set collegiate career records in 2016 striking out 87 batters and matched his totals in back-to-back wins at 5 for the second time in his four-year college career at NCCU.
Sweet signed a free agent contract during the 2016 MLB Draft and reported to the Mariners Class-A Rookie League team in Peoria, Arizona. He became the 6th HBCU Baseball player to sign a contract with a major league baseball club in 2016. He was the 10th NCCU player to play professionally with a MLB ballclub dating back to 2007.