MVN - Most Valuable Network

Not Swishing Anymore

On January 3rd, 2008, the A’s and White Sox consummated the first baseball trade of the new year, when Oakland GM Billy Beane agreed to send Moneyball posterchild Nick Swisher to Chicago, in exchange for minor league pitchers Gio Gonzalez and Fautino De Los Santos, as well as outfielder Ryan Sweeney.

The trade was the A’s second major barter of the offseason — the first one being the deal that shipped ace starter Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks — continuing what figured to be a lengthy rebuilding process in the East Bay.  It has worked out reasonably well, to date, for Oakland; Gonzalez and De Los Santos are both promising prospects, and the 23 year-old Sweeney has thus far posted a .290/.347/.391 line in 169 at-bats, while seeing playing time at all three outfield positions.

But, at least for the first two months of the season, the swap was looking mighty miserable on the South Side of Chicago.

That’s because the 27 year-old Nick Swisher found himself mired in a horrendous slump that lasted through April and May.  He entered the month of June batting a Mendozian .201, and slugging a Jerry Owens-ian .311.  Once projected to become a 40-plus homerun hitter for the White Sox, thanks to the tight dimensions of US Cellular Field,  Swisher only managed to send four balls over the wall in his first 184 at-bats of the season, putting him on pace for a lowly dozen on the year.  Fantasy pundits nationwide — yours truly included — were grumbling, and neither White Sox fans nor Swisher himself could explain what was behind his two-month-long slump.

The apparently quite superstitious Swisher tried everything short of changing his last name to “Slugger”, in what was then a futile effort to jumpstart his anemic bat.  “I don’t know what else to do,” he remarked, after sporting his third different hairdo of the season, coming into the month of June.

Whether it was the so-called “faux-hawk”, or his decision to wear teammate Toby Hall’s pants, some magical force turned Swisher’s season around on a dime.

In 27 games last month, Swisher upped his batting average to .239, and nearly tripled his homerun total.  He finished June with a two-tater effort — including his second Grand Slam in four days — at home, leading the ChiSox to their fifth consecutive victory, a 9-7 decision over the Indians.  The former Ohio State standout’s stat-sheet for the year now shows .239/.354/.417, with eleven homers and 37 runs batted in, following a terrific June campaign, highlighted by a .315 average and seven round-trippers.   Those totals are still well below Swisher’s career norms, but are infinitely more respectable than they were just thirty days ago.

After three-plus years of being a fan favorite at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, the switch-hitting Swisher certainly was not accustomed to the boos and jeers he often heard after failing to come through when needed during his first two months in the Windy City.

“For the first time in my life, people were writing some things about me in the paper that I didn’t like.  It was the first time in my life that I had ever been booed.  I’m such a happy-go-lucky guy, but some of that stuff kind of hit me the wrong way.”

But, added the no longer beleaguered Swisher, “that was just a little more added incentive to work a little harder and get myself to where I am right now.”

Where he is right now is exactly where the White Sox want him to stay for the rest of his tenure with the team.  Currently in the second year of a five-year, $26.75 million contract, Swisher is property of the Pale Hose for at least the next three and a half years.

So long as he keeps slugging instead of swishing, the not-so-well named Buckeye will be a fan favorite again in no time.

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TUESDAY TRIVIA

Tuesday Trivia is a new feature on The MLB Source (shamelessly stolen from Fire Brand) that will run at the bottom of every Tuesday column. Each Tuesday, you’ll find the trivia question for the current week, and the answer to the previous week’s question. Answer in the comments, and feel free to guess (limit two per person), but do not violate the honor code.

The person who correctly answers the most questions before the end of the season will win an as-of-yet-undetermined prize, and smaller prizes will be awarded throughout the season, such as guest columns and the opportunity to create polls. A “Trivia Leaderboard” page is now available here.

Last week’s question was: What current MLB manager (and former player) was a catcher for the University of California-Berkeley (Cal) during the late-1970’s and early-1980’s?

Reader Hank Condrey regained the lead in the Trivia Contest, by providing the correct answer: Bob Melvin of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The current contest leaderboard can be found here.

This week’s question is: During the 2006 season, Nick Swisher penned a popular column on ESPN.com about his experiences as a baseball player, from the 2002 Draft (in which he was selected 16th overall by the A’s), to his early days in the Majors.  What was the column called? 

The honor code for this week’s question prohibits searching archives on ESPN.com, or using online sources such as Wikipedia.  Search engines are fair-game, but may not be used to access the aforementioned sources.  The first person to answer the question correctly will earn a point in the ongoing Trivia Contest, and the opportunity to create the poll question to be posted on Friday, July 11th. 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 12:28 am and is filed under Baseballistic, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Nick Swisher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.