Nick Swisher
Posted by Andy on November 13, 2008
Here are the best OPS+ figures for a guy who batted .220 or worse over a full season in the last 20 years:
Cnt Player **OPS+** BA Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+--------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Rob Deer 108 .209 1990 29 MIL AL 134 511 440 57 92 15 1 27 69 64 6 147 4 0 3 0 2 3 .313 .432 .745 *93 2 Rob Deer 105 .210 1989 28 MIL AL 130 532 466 72 98 18 2 26 65 60 5 158 4 0 2 8 4 8 .305 .425 .730 *9/D78 3 Darrell Evans 104 .208 1988 41 DET AL 144 522 437 48 91 9 0 22 64 84 4 89 1 0 0 14 1 4 .337 .380 .717 *D3 4 Mark McGwire 103 .201 1991 27 OAK AL 154 585 483 62 97 22 0 22 75 93 3 116 3 1 5 13 2 1 .330 .383 .713 *3 5 Kevin Maas 100 .220 1991 26 NYY AL 148 592 500 69 110 14 1 23 63 83 3 128 4 0 5 4 5 1 .333 .390 .723 *D3 6 Nick Swisher 93 .219 2008 27 CHW AL 153 588 497 86 109 21 1 24 69 82 6 135 4 1 4 14 3 3 .332 .410 .742 3879/D 7 Phil Plantier 93 .220 1994 25 SDP NL 96 385 341 44 75 21 0 18 41 36 6 91 5 1 2 8 3 1 .302 .440 .742 *7 8 Jose Valentin 92 .216 2004 34 CHW AL 125 504 450 73 97 20 3 30 70 43 4 139 3 6 2 5 8 6 .287 .473 .760 *6/D 9 Rob Deer 92 .179 1991 30 DET AL 134 539 448 64 80 14 2 25 64 89 1 175 0 0 2 3 1 3 .314 .386 .700 *9/D 10 Pat Burrell 90 .209 2003 26 PHI NL 146 599 522 57 109 31 4 21 64 72 2 142 4 0 1 18 0 0 .309 .404 .713 *7/D 11 Rob Deer 84 .210 1993 32 TOT AL 128 532 466 66 98 17 1 21 55 58 1 169 5 0 3 6 5 2 .303 .386 .689 *9/D8 12 Bill Doran 82 .219 1989 31 HOU NL 142 574 507 65 111 25 2 8 58 59 2 63 2 3 3 8 22 3 .301 .323 .624 *4 13 Jeromy Burnitz 80 .215 2002 33 NYM NL 154 550 479 65 103 15 0 19 54 58 5 135 10 1 2 11 10 7 .311 .365 .676 *9/D 14 Charles Johnson 79 .218 1998 26 TOT NL 133 506 459 44 100 18 0 19 58 45 1 129 1 0 1 12 0 2 .289 .381 .670 *2 15 Devon White 79 .217 1990 27 CAL AL 125 503 443 57 96 17 3 11 44 44 5 116 3 10 3 6 21 6 .290 .343 .633 *8 16 Jeff Blauser 73 .211 1995 29 ATL NL 115 504 431 60 91 16 2 12 31 57 2 107 12 2 2 6 8 5 .319 .341 .660 *6 17 Dick Schofield 72 .206 1992 29 TOT ML 143 502 423 52 87 18 2 4 36 61 4 82 5 10 3 11 11 4 .311 .286 .597 *6 18 Cory Snyder 70 .215 1989 26 CLE AL 132 518 489 49 105 17 0 18 59 23 1 134 2 0 4 11 6 5 .251 .360 .611 *9/6D 19 Desi Relaford 69 .215 2000 26 TOT NL 128 502 410 55 88 14 3 5 46 75 7 71 12 3 2 10 13 0 .351 .300 .651 *6 20 Ray Durham 65 .218 2007 35 SFG NL 138 528 464 56 101 21 2 11 71 53 6 75 2 0 9 18 10 2 .295 .343 .638 *4
A few guys on this list - McGwire, Burrell, Johnson among them - had productive seasons after their dismal year. But most of these guys disappeared into nothingness.
Personally, I have no idea what the Yankees were thinking in acquiring Swisher.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
They were thinking about turning their mediocre bench player and lower level prospects into a versatile player who can play first or outfield while at the same time allocating the money that would have been spent on Teixeira onto their real need: starting pitchers.
November 15th, 2008 at 10:51 am
The comparison to Devon White might be instructive. Both he and Swisher were 27 in the bad year. The next season, White got some MVP votes and he later made two All-Star teams. I imagine the Yankees would be satisfied with that kind of comeback.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
There are reasons to believe Swisher will bounce back, but White is a pretty dissimilar player.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
As a White Sox fan I watched Swisher all season in '08. I was expecting '06 type #s from him simply because he was going to play half his games at the Cell. No dice... I do think he will bounce back (slightly higher BA) IF he gets the PAs. Remember he's a .245 career hitter with decent power (25 or so HRs in a full season?) while drawing a lot of walks.... Eh.... Good clubhouse guy I guess.....