StatManDu Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I started on this when the Sox got Nick Swisher but was stalled by a lot of things ... Here it is I attached it as well. It is a lot easier to read when downloaded Breaking down Nick Swisher Some nuggets, notes and nonsense about newest Sox Nick Swisher courtesy of retrosheet.org, yahoo.com, thebaseballcube.com and the author’s personal files: Cell mate If history holds, expect big things from Nick Swisher in home games this season. The only park where Swisher has hit better than US Cellular Field is Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay. Swisher owns a .378 career average (14-for-37) with a home run and nine RBIs in nine games at the Cell. In addition, Swisher has a .455 on-base percentage, a .568 slugging percentage, four doubles and six walks at the corner of 35th and Shields. Swisher hit .308 at the Cell in 2005, .300 in 2006 and .500 in 2007. Swisher is hitting .386 (22-for-57) with four homers and 13 RBIs at Tropicana Field. He has company Swisher is another in a long line of Kenny Williams pickup with a solid offensive resume at US Cellular Field as a visitor. Here’s the rundown: Orlando Cabrera arrived in Chicago with a .302 career average at US Cellular Field. His best year at the park came in 2004 when hit .429 (6-for-14) with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs in three games there for the Red Sox. … When Jim Thome was acquired by the Sox before the 2006 season, he was hitting .286 with a .382 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage with 18 home runs at US Cellular Field. … When Jermaine Dye was signed prior to 2005, he owned a .286 average with five home runs and 19 RBIs as a visitor to U.S. Cellular Field. … AJ Pierzynski donned the Sox “soot and silver” in 2005 with a .326 average at 35th and Shields. In addition, Pierzynski had hit safely 20 of his 23 games as a visitor to U.S. Cellular Field while collecting more hits as a visitor (28) at U.S. Cellular Field than at any park. … Darin Erstad signed with the Sox with a .353 average the Cell. More pain for Carlos Silva It’s almost as if a player has to hit Carlos Silva well to join the White Sox. Swisher is hitting .294 with a .765 slugging percentage, two doubles and two home runs against Silva. Swisher will fit in with the Sox when it comes to punishing the right-hander, who has joined the Seattle Mariners after toiling for Minnesota. Fellow new Sox Orlando Cabrera is hitting .500 (12-for-24) with four doubles, a home run and a .792 slugging percentage against Silva. Others vs. Silva: Brian Anderson (.500, homer), Joe Crede (.355, three homers), Jermaine Dye (.350, two homers), Josh Fields (.333), Jerry Owens (.333), Pablo Ozuna (.667), A.J. Pierzynski (.292, two homers), Jim Thome (.368, three homers) and Juan Uribe (.514, five homers, .946 slugging percentage). All in the Family Nick Swisher is the son of former White Sox first round draft pick Steve Swisher, who never played for the team. The Sox made Steve the 21st overall pick of the June 1973 draft out of Ohio University. Steve joined Ken Piesha (1965) and Danny Goodwin (1971) as the only catchers selected in the first round of the June draft by the Sox to that point. Since then, the team has chosen backstops Rick Seilheimer (1979), Ron Karkovice (1982), Kurt Brown (1985) and Mark Johnson (1994) in the first round of the June draft. Steve signed on June 20, 1973 and began his pro career at the Sox Double-A affiliate in Knoxville, Tenn., where his teammates included the likes of Lamar Johnson and Ken Kravec. After hitting .211 in 54 games, Steve was promoted to Triple-A Iowa where he batted .286 in six games to finish out the season. The following December Steve was part of the largest trade ever executed between the Sox and the Cubs. The Sox packaged Steve with pitchers Ken Frailing, Jim Kremmel and Steve Stone and sent them across town for Ron Santo on Dec. 11, 1973. Steve went to play nine seasons in the National League (four with the Cubs, three with the Cardinals and two with the Padres). He hit .216 with 20 homers, 322 strikeouts and 124 RBIs in 509 games in a career that included a spot on the 1976 National League All-Star team (did not play). Steve never played a game for an American League team and, to this point in his career, Nick has never played a game for a National League team. Call him ‘Swish’ Much has been made about Swisher’s on-base percentage but he swings and misses, too. Swisher has fanned at least 110 times in each of the last three seasons. He struck out a career-high 152 times in 2006. If Swisher had been on the Sox in 2006, the 152 strikeouts would have been the second-highest total in club history behind only Dave “Swish” Nicholson’s 175 whiffs in 1963. Swing early Swisher is kind of a paradox. While one of the main reasons the Sox acquired him was for penchant for patience, he thrives when swinging at the first pitch. For his career, Swisher is hitting .350 with three homer and a .561 slugging percentage with the count 0-0. Last year, while drawing 100 walks, Swisher hit hit a sizzling .487 (19-for-84) with a .744 slugging percentage and a home run. His next highest “count” average in 2007 was .357 after 3-0. Swisher’s highest career “count” average is on 1-1. Swisher is hitting .392 with a .636 slugging percentage with a ball and a strike. *Other robust averages: .371 with 14 homers at 1-0, .344 with six homers at 2-0 and .308 at 2-1. *Badness: .145 on 0-2, .153 after 0-2, .175 after 1-2, .160 on 2-2 and .194 after 2-2. *Bat on shoulder: Swisher has swung just once in his career with the count 3-0. He was retired. *Men on/empty: For his career, Swisher is hitting .254 with 48 homers with the bases empty and .247 with 32 homers with men on base. Central issues Swisher hasn’t fared particularly well against American League Central teams. In fact, Swisher has had his best Central success against the White Sox, hitting .305 with a homer and 12 RBIs. Against Cleveland, Swisher is hitting .290 followed by Minnesota at .250, Kansas City at .236 and Detroit at .211. *Central sites: Outside of US Cellular Field, the only Central venue where Swisher has thrived is the Metrodome. Swisher comes to the Sox with a .378 average at the Cell. He is hitting .292 at the Metrodome. From there, his Central road averages drop signficantly. Swisher is hitting .264 in Cleveland, .188 in Detroit and .175 in Kansas City. *Look out, CC: One of the best things about Swisher is that he comes to Chicago with a solid resume against Sox-killer C.C. Sabathia. Swisher is hitting .385 (5-for-13) with a double, an RBI and a walk against Cleveland’s ace left-hander, who is 14-3 lifetime against the Southsiders. *Other Tribe hurlers: Swisher has tagged Cleveland hurlers Cliff Lee (.444), Fausto Carmona (.429) and Paul Byrd (.333, 7 hits) but struggled against Jake Westbrook (1-for-19, with a strikeout) and Rafael Betancourt (.200). *Tiger tales: When Swisher gets a hit off Justin Verlander, it probably is going for extra-bases. Swisher is 4-for-15 with a double and two home run off the Detroit ace. Against other notable Detroit hurlers, Swisher is 3-for-3 with a homer off Denny Bautista; .167 with a homer vs. Jeremy Bonderman; .105 (2-for-19) vs. Zach Robertson and .267 (4-for-15) vs. Kenny Rogers. *Royal report: Swisher has struggled against Gil Meche, hitting just .214 with seven strikeouts in 14 at bats against the Kansas City ace. Against other notable Royal tossers, Swisher is 2-for-6 with a homer against Brian Banniser; .400 (2-for-5) against Zack Greinke and 1-for-1 against Joakim Soria. *Twin tales: Of the current hurlers on the Twins’ staff, Swisher has had the most success against Francisco Liriano. Swisher is 2-for-4 with a double against the young lefty. Swisher has come up empty while walking once in five plate appearances against Minnesota closer Joe Nathan. Good Wood v. Millwood Count on Swisher being in the lineup if the White Sox face Texas’ Kevin Millwood in 2008. Swisher has hit more homers (3) and hits (9) off Millwood than any other pitcher while hitting him at a .409 clip with a .909 slugging percentage. In addition, Swisher has logged two doubles, seven RBIs and three walks off Millwood. Sign somewhere, Bart! Swisher is probably hoping the unsigned and rehabbing Bartolo Colon ends up in the American League Central. Swisher is hitting .571 (4-for-7) with a double and a home run against the former Sox hurler. How about the Cubs? Being a career American Leaguer, Swisher hasn’t faced many Cubs. However, Swisher ruined a few offerings of current Cubs Ted Lilly and Bob Howry while they were in the American League. Lilly is he is hitting .333 (5-for-15) with two homers, three RBIs, a double and three walks against Lilly. Against Howry, Swisher is 1-for-2 with a home run. Swisher is 0-for-2 with a walk against Jon Lieber and 0-for-1 against Neal Cotts. If you can’t beat ‘em Bet Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, John Danks, Boone Logan, Matt Thornton and Javier Vazquez are glad Swisher is on their side now. Swisher has logged at least a .333 average against each those White Sox tossers. Swisher has done the most damage off Vazquez (.500, 4-for-8) and Buehrle (.400, 6-for-15 with a double, an RBI and four walks). Swisher is 2-for-2 against Danks and 2-for-3 vs. Logan. He is hitting .375 with three RBIs and four walks against Contreras and is 2-for-6 with an RBI vs. Thornton. Switch it up The 35 home runs Swisher hit for the 2006 A’s would easily be a Sox record for switch-hitters. Jose Valentin set the standard for Sox switch-hitters with 28 homers in 2003. Valentin hit a career-best 30 homers for the 2004 Sox but he hit exclusively from the left side that season. *Switch it up II: Swisher was a much better hitter against left-handers, hitting .291. Against righties, Swisher hit .250. Swisher hit just six homers in 151 at bats against lefties while pounding 16 homers in 388 at bats against righties. In his career, Swisher is hitting .271 with 17 homers in 425 at bats against lefties and .244 with 63 home runs in 1,192 at bats against righties. Versatile Swisher made 39 starts at first base, 46 in right and 56 in center for the 2007 A’s Not a good sign The left-handed thrower logged three outfield assists in 251 total chances for the 2007 A’s. … He made 90 starts at first, 79 in left and one each in right and center for the 2006 A’s. … In 2005, Swisher made 121 starts in right and 21 at first. … In his cup of coffee year with the A’s in 2004, Swisher started at all three outfield positions and first base. He plays Swisher missed 17 games over the last two years. … The Sox player who comes closest to that figure is Paul Konerko, who missed a total of 21 contests in 2006 and 2007. Buckeye club Swisher attended Ohio State. Among the Sox players who matriculated at that school were Chuck Brinkman, Jim Geddes and Bill Sharp. No speed Swisher has four steals in nine career attempts. The four steals are equal to the amount Steve Swisher posted in his nine-year career (eight attempts). Pack his suitcase Swisher has been a far better hitter on the road than he has been at home in his career. Swisher will enter 2008 with a .260 lifetime mark in road games as opposed to .242 in home games. Leave the lights off Swisher has shown he likes night games better than day games throughout his career. Through 2007, Swisher compiled a .254 average with the moon out while hitting .245 under the sunshine. Clutch concerns Swisher is hitting a paltry .220 with 16 homers with runners in scoring position. His on-base percentage in those situations is a respectable . June (and July) swoon It could be a rough middle of the season for Swisher if his career pattern holds true. Swisher has been horrendous in June and July throughout his four-year career. In those months, he his hitting .227 (.228 in June and .228 in July). With those months out of the equation, Swisher owns a .263 career mark. Best 30 days Swisher’s top month, by far, is May. Swisher is hitting .301 in the season’s second month. Swisher’s next best month (aside from a five-game .300 average in October) is April, where he is hitting .265. Early and late power 44 percent of Swisher’s home runs have come in April and September. aaSWISHER_1_.doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bighurt4life Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 nice work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) QUOTE(StatManDu @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 02:37 AM) Swisher has been horrendous in June and July throughout his four-year career. In those months, he his hitting .227 (.228 in June and .228 in July). Sure, but that's just looking at average. He's also got a career .806 OPS in July, with a .227/.356/.450 line. Granted, he's been much worse in June, but looking at batting average doesn't give the whole picture, especially with a player like Swisher who excels at drawing walks and getting on-base. Good post, but you looked way too much at his average as opposed to other numbers which might give a better representation of his offensive ability. Edited February 5, 2008 by Felix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoesox Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(Felix @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 08:44 AM) Sure, but that's just looking at average. He's also got a career .806 OPS in July, with a .227/.356/.450 line. Granted, he's been much worse in June, but looking at batting average doesn't give the whole picture, especially with a player like Swisher who excels at drawing walks and getting on-base. Good post, but you looked way too much at his average as opposed to other numbers which might give a better representation of his offensive ability. batting average is a very important number for a hitter that plays half his games in arguably the best hitters park in baseball i'd say it's the most important offensive number given that he'll be playing in the cell most of the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retro1983hat Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 That is more Swisher info that I could ever hope for. Of course I don't hope for much in terms of Nick Swisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Nick Swisher + Josh Fields = mucho strikeouts. Fields is a lock to break the White Sox record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(joesaiditstrue @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 09:39 AM) batting average is a very important number for a hitter that plays half his games in arguably the best hitters park in baseball i'd say it's the most important offensive number given that he'll be playing in the cell most of the time That would be OPS, not average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowand44 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:47 AM) Nick Swisher + Josh Fields = mucho strikeouts. And lots of power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipps Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked.I like his personality and everything that goes with the way he plays the game but I just dont think he is a good fit for our club.If SO and the inability to make contact and be crafty with the bat was our weakness in the past how is it good to add to that weakness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RME JICO Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 09:47 AM) Nick Swisher + Josh Fields = mucho strikeouts. Fields is a lock to break the White Sox record. Hopefully it also equals mucho pitch counts for opposing pitchers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StatManDu Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Hopefully it also equals mucho pitch counts for opposing pitchers. Great points about OPS and, no doubt, that is a key stat. Maybe for a board like this, I should have focused or included it more. However, much like holds or even on base percentage, I am not quite sure the average fan or even the average media member can grasp what OPS is. Still, I look at his numbers in June and July, and they are a deviation from his other numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalapse Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Clutch concerns Swisher is hitting a paltry .220 with 16 homers with runners in scoring position. His on-base percentage in those situations is a respectable . RISP w/ 2 OUT: .237/.381/.460/.841 CLOSE & LATE: .269/.395/.466/.861 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RME JICO Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:48 AM) If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked. I'll take the over on that one. Playing half his games in the Cell will give him 5-7 more HRs. Edited February 5, 2008 by RME JICO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevo880 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 12:48 PM) If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked.I like his personality and everything that goes with the way he plays the game but I just dont think he is a good fit for our club.If SO and the inability to make contact and be crafty with the bat was our weakness in the past how is it good to add to that weakness? how do you figure 22 hr's? the only way i see that happening is if he spends a decent amount of time on the dl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 09:48 AM) If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked.I like his personality and everything that goes with the way he plays the game but I just dont think he is a good fit for our club.If SO and the inability to make contact and be crafty with the bat was our weakness in the past how is it good to add to that weakness? In a terrible year where we were playing a lot of rookies and guys like Andy Gonzalez with no business being in the major leagues, the White Sox were #8 in MLB in strikeouts last year. Teams 7, 6, and 5? Colorado, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. The best 6-7 teams in the league at strikeouts? Minnesota, Seattle, the Dodgers, the Angels, The Giants, the Cardinals, and The Orioles. Only 1 playoff team in the top 8. I find it very difficult to argue either way that making contact and avoiding strikeouts is a key trait of winning teams when there seems to be little correlation between strikeouts and wins or offensive effectiveness, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalapse Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked.I like his personality and everything that goes with the way he plays the game but I just dont think he is a good fit for our club.If SO and the inability to make contact and be crafty with the bat was our weakness in the past how is it good to add to that weakness? Because it's your opinion that the team's main weakness was craftiness and contact hitting, I don't see either to be a problem and besides the Sox replaced their least crafty/worst contact hitter with an incredibly crafty/very good contact hitter in Cabrera. The problem with the Sox's offense last season IMO was Andy Gonzalez, Darin Erstad, Scott Podsednik, Joe Crede and a brutal half season from Jermaine Dye (tough to have a productive offense with players like that hitting at the top). Replacing Erstad and Podsenik (2 god awful baseball players) with 2 high OBP hitters in Swisher and Quentin should help this team immensely. Strikeouts don't scare me all that much when that player is hitting 25+ homeruns to go along with a high OBP. Swisher is actually a perfect fit for this team, his power hitting is going to be a real asset at the cell and he's going to GET ON BASE (more players on base = more runs) in front of the big boppers in the lineup something this team has had trouble doing for the past few years. It seems the only group of fans who are annoyed with the Twins' slap hitting piranha approach to offense are Twins fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipps Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 The sox problem last year was a lineup with a bunch of batters who would swing for the fences no matter what the situation called for.Swisher will add to that problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalapse Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 12:01 PM) In a terrible year where we were playing a lot of rookies and guys like Andy Gonzalez with no business being in the major leagues, the White Sox were #8 in MLB in strikeouts last year. Teams 7, 6, and 5? Colorado, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. The best 6-7 teams in the league at strikeouts? Minnesota, Seattle, the Dodgers, the Angels, The Giants, the Cardinals, and The Orioles. Only 1 playoff team in the top 8. I find it very difficult to argue either way that making contact and avoiding strikeouts is a key trait of winning teams when there seems to be little correlation between strikeouts and wins or offensive effectiveness, etc. 4 of the top 5 teams in OPS last season made the playoffs. 6 of the top 7 teams in OBP last season made the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:16 AM) 4 of the top 5 teams in OPS last season made the playoffs. 6 of the top 7 teams in OBP last season made the playoffs. And the White Sox were 26th in OPS and 30th in OBP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanOfCorn Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 12:13 PM) The sox problem last year was a lineup with a bunch of batters who would swing for the fences no matter what the situation called for.Swisher will add to that problem. Swisher is not a home run hitter...maybe you are confusing him with Adam Dunn. Adam Dunn strikes out a lot, walks a lot and hits a lot of home runs. Swisher strikes out a lot, walks a lot and hits a lot of doubles. Some of those doubles will fly over the fences in Comiskey (I won't call it The Cell, I just won't). That's the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipps Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 12:44 PM) To break it down in the simplest of forms, HR=Bad? "Smallball"=Good? Of course Iam not saying HR are bad.But to have some ability to situational hit and be successful would be nice,I dont know about all that smallball crap.Just by adding OCab is it supposed to change the whole nature of our lineup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 QUOTE(joesaiditstrue @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 09:39 AM) batting average is a very important number for a hitter that plays half his games in arguably the best hitters park in baseball i'd say it's the most important offensive number given that he'll be playing in the cell most of the time I disagree with you, but even then, all of the numbers given in the first post were based off his time in Oakland, which was the 2nd least average friendly park last year (and 2nd least run friendly park). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipps Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 12:43 PM) Swisher is not a home run hitter Is Nick aware of this.He would probably be alot better hitter if he knew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoesox Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:50 AM) That would be OPS, not average. I know what OPS is, but thanks for the insight. Average in the Cell is more important than total OPS because I'm putting more emphasis on SLG over OBP.. Walks get you one base if you're not a base stealing threat (Swish). Hits can net you multiple bases (SLG), and in a small park, SLG is an important factor. Batting Average ties directly to SLG. IMO SLG% is the more important part of OPS in a small park. That's all I'm saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vance Law Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked. I will be shocked if he is healthy and hits less than 25. I will be surprised if he hits less than 30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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