Swisher Sits Again
Via mlb.com -
In his final swing of batting practice, Nick Swisher hit a popup into the roof of the batting cage. After dejectedly tossing away his bat, he went to gather the loose balls strewn over the field. Then he got ready to rest for the second straight day.
Swisher, who had started 41 of the Yankees’ first 44 games, sat out Monday’s series opener against the Blue Jays. Chris Dickerson started in his place in right field.
For manager Joe Girardi, Swisher’s struggles — especially from the left side of the plate — triggered the decision to give the right fielder an extended rest.
“His left-handed swing has been a struggle,” Girardi said of the switch-hitter. “I figured it would be a good time to give him a couple of days to just take a deep breath. He’s important to us.”
Swisher is hitting .214 with a .330 on-base percentage and two home runs in 176 plate appearances. As a left-handed batter, those numbers drop to .170 with a .305 OBP, though both homers have come from that side of the plate.
“I don’t know, I’m not really a numbers guy,” Swisher said. “I don’t really check it out. Obviously, left-handed I don’t know if I’m doing that well. But hey, so what? I know I can hit left-handed, I’ve done it, I’ve proved it year in and year out. So I’m not really worried about it.”
For his career, Swisher is a .251 hitter with a .356 OBP, but his power has been glaringly absent this season. The owner of a lifetime .462 slugging percentage, he has posted a .303 mark this season.
With Swisher, I always think back to those reports when he was with the A’s – about him spending $1,000 on vodka at a club in New York in 2006. The dude is a party animal. I wonder if this has anything to do with his performance this year? Then again, he was just fine in 2009 and 2010. So, it would seem strange if it’s suddenly an issue now.
He’s a married man now, that may have something to do with his performance
BTW, he had a partner in crime in Joe Blanton. Two guys spending a grand on vodka really isn’t that big a deal; that’s a couple of bottles of grey goose (maybe 20 drinks a bottle). I doubt that they’d be drinking alone, so let’s say they’re part of a group of 10; teammates, groupies, hangers on, etc.
40 drinks divided by 10 people? 4 drinks a person. That’s not a whole lot.
I have no idea why Swisher is struggling so bad.
It’s possible that, as a player with “old player’s skills”, he’s declining prematurely. He did turn 30 this off-season.
It’s considerably more likely that this is an extended slump, just as he had for 2 1/2 months in 2009 (from about the beginning of May through mid-July). He eventually came out of that one, and it’s likely he’ll come out of this one.
Evan3457 wrote:
I’m not sure I agree that he has “old player’s skills.” While not fast in terms of stolen bases, he does have athleticism that other guys with that moniker (Adam Dunn, Jim Thome, Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder) don’t have.
He may not come out of his slump but the underlying metrics do suggest that he’s been suffering from some of the worst luck in baseball this year. I’m not sure I see age as a factor here.
MJ Recanati wrote:
How so?
@ Steve Lombardi:
He was due to come back to earth from a BABIP standpoint (last year was a career high .335).
LD%: 24 (19 career)
GB%: 35 (36)
FB%: 41 (45)
BB%: 14 (13)
K%: 26 (25)
For the most part, Swisher’s hitting at his career levels, save for more line drives, and a little less fly balls. He’s walking and striking out more or less at his career rate.
@ Steve Lombardi:
BABIP isn’t the only measure of luck and, more to the point, there’s no point in comparing one player’s BABIP with another since it is the batted ball data which gives BABIP its meaning. Given his underlying metrics which Raf pointed out in the comment below yours, it appears that Swisher’s batted ball data hasn’t changed much from last year and thus the lower BABIP would indicat lousy luck.