Archive for Nick Swisher
Swisher’s new stance leads to Game Three breakout
Posted by: | CommentsAfter a dreadful three-plus weeks, Nick Swisher finally showed signs of life offensively last night, when he doubled down the line to start a rally in the fifth and tacked on another run with a solo job an inning later. Astute observers noticed that Swish had changed up his stance since we last saw him, and here’s the visual evidence to prove it:
The clip on the left is from the homer at-bat in the 6th last night, the clip on the right is from his 8th inning at-bat against Scott Kazmir in Game 6 of the ALCS. You can’t see it from the still photos, but there’s less movement in his hands. You can see that he’s closed up however, which in theory gives him a better chance on pitches away.
Kenny Rosenthal notes that hitting coach Kevin Long said this is just the first step of a “major overhaul” that will continue into the offseason.
The idea, Long said, is “to eliminate movement, put yourself in better position to react to the baseball.
“Everyone knows he is a great fastball hitter,” Long continued. “They’ve been trying to off-speed him to death. When you have a lot of motion — he has a toe tap and also a long stride — pitches are tough to see, tough to react to.”
Of course, the pitch Swish hit last night for the double was a curveball down and on the inner half, but the homer came on a fastball away. Did his new closed stance allow him to reach out and tag that pitch? Maybe. Either way, let’s hope Swish keeps hitting for the next five days.
The Swisher of our discontent
Posted by: | Comments
In just one season, Nick Swisher has fast become a fan favorite in New York City. Last night, he again displayed his antics in a moment that Amanda Rykoff caught on camera. She posted the above image to her Posterous site and called Swisher’s bow to Hideki Matsui during lineup introductions a sign of the Mohawk Godzilla Nation.
Tonight, Nick Swisher will rest though. After going 0 for 3 with a strike out against Cliff Lee last night, Nick is mired in a terrible slump. He is just 3 for his last 35 with 12 strike outs. Considering his 7-for-42 end to the season, Nick is now hitting just .130 since mid-September with 12 walks. No lucky Mohawk can save him for that.
When the Yanks released the lineup about 45 minutes ago, Nick Swisher found himself a part of the Yankee bench. On a night when Jose Molina will bat ninth and catch, Jerry Hairston will hit seventh and play right field. Apparently, it is a part of the Yankee strategy to put two inferior hitters into the lineup one night after scoring just one run. Hairston, for what it’s worth, has played just one game in right field all season. I could rant about this lineup forever, but back to Swisher.
As an aside, it appears as though Joe Girardi has opted for Hairston over Brett Gardner or Eric Hinske because of Hairston’s career numbers against Pedro. Although Hairston is 10 for 27 against Martinez, all but eight of those ABs came in 2002 and 2003. Hairston hasn’t faced Martinez since July 26, 2004. If Girardi is making his decision based upon numbers that are at least five years old, that is, honestly put, a stupid move.
I would never have advocated for benching Nick Swisher. He’s just off right now. Fack Youk, in a Nick Swisher futility report, summed it up best using a PitchF/x chart and some observations from the game:
Swish was even given a generous ball on the second pitch of the at bat – the green square which was clearly high enough and right down the pike. So what did Swisher do with the five (really 6) pitches that were in his – or Major League hitter’s – wheelhouse? He took three for strikes (and one for a ball) and fouled the other two off.
You don’t take four strikes in those respective locations in one at bat unless you are completely lost at the plate and are simply resorting to guessing. You don’t foul the other two off unless your rhythm and timing are out of whack. It was as if Lee & Ruiz had figured out that Swisher wasn’t going to hit the ball no matter where it was and decided to just lay it right down the middle…
Swisher is prone to extended slumps and he picked a pretty terrible time to have one of his worst of the year. The sporadic schedule has probably negatively affected as a switch hitter since he has two swings that he needs to keep working and both have seemingly fallen into a state of disrepair.
The best way for Swisher to move beyond this slump is more ABs, but the Yankees don’t really have the luxury of more at-bats. If they lose three more games, their season is over, and if they lose tonight, they face longs World Series odds on the road. And so Nick Swisher will sit, and I won’t mind.
Joe Girardi shouldn’t be employing a lineup without both Swisher and Jorge Posada, but tonight, he is. He should have used Brett Gardner or even Hinske over Hairston, but the ink has dried on that one. The top of the order can overcome some poor decisions at the bottom, and hopefully, Nick lets his head clear on this one. After an unexpectedly good season from Swisher, the last thing we want is a fade into oblivion after a bad postseason.
Swisher can still redeem himself
Posted by: | CommentsThe postseason so far has not agreed with Nick Swisher. He’s just 3 for 29 with three walks, far from the production he posted during the regular season. He started off the ALCS with two hits in two games, but his last hit came in Game 2. Since then he’s 0 for his last 11, including a brutal Game 5 performance. Yet Swisher still has a chance to make everything right.
Just how bad is Swisher hitting right now? In the Yanks breakout seventh inning, he made both the first and last outs. The last one hurt especially. Robinson Cano had just tripled in the go-ahead runs and was standing on third, waiting for Swisher to dunk one into the outfield and extend the lead. Instead, Swisher did what he has done so many times this series: flied out.
In the ninth, down by one, the Yankees mounted a two-out rally, sparked by the Angels’ decision to intentionally walk Alex Rodriguez. Matsui coaxed a free pass, and Cano took a breaking ball between the shoulder blades. That set up Swisher in clutchest of clutch situations: ninth inning, bases loaded, two outs, tying run 90 feet away. Swish didn’t have to hit a home run. With Brett Gardner standing on second base, all he had to do was dunk one into the outfield and the Yankees would have taken the lead. But as he did in the seventh inning, he failed.
Sometimes you just have to chalk it up to the pitcher. Fuentes is the Angels closer, and he had retired the first two hitters of the inning. The Yankees made a valiant effort, but came up short. Yet in this instance, the failure seems to be squarely on Swisher’s shoulders — the pitch was a 91 mph fastball right down the middle. See for yourself (via Brooks):
Swisher is simply off his game. He he been even close to his normal rhythm, he might have parked that pitch and given Mo a three-run lead. Even if he’s not going perfectly, Swisher should be able to line that one into the shallow outfield and give the Yanks a one-run lead. But Swish popped it up, demonstrating exactly how out of rhythm he is right now.
The beauty of the Yanks’ position, though, is that Swisher still has a chance at redemption. If he can put his horrible performances behind him and come up with a big Game 6, all will be forgotten. If he drives in a few runs, or gets on base to set up a big inning, leading to a Yankees win, we’ll put the bad memories in the backs of our minds. Yes, Swish had a chance and failed. But, because the Yankees put themselves in an advantageous position, they still have two more chances. Swisher can be a big part of a potential series win.
That’s why I’m not too down about last night. No one thought the Yankees would blow out the Angels, so to finish the series in five would have been a gift. Now they get another shot, at home, in Game 6, and Swisher gets another shot at redemption. Last night’s loss may have been tough, but there’s still plenty of reasons to believe that the Yankees will finish this out. I just hope Swish is a big part of it.
Yanks offense goes from powerhouse to porous in ALCS
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve all seen this before: Yankees offense scores 900 runs in the regular season, goes to sleep in the playoffs. The difference this year is that some guys are still hitting. That, and the superb pitching allowed even a porous offense to come out ahead in the first five postseason contests. But, as we saw yesterday, the holes in the lineup can be killers. The Yanks could have scored eight, 10 runs yesterday if they hit with runners in scoring position. Instead, they relied on the solo homer. That won’t always work.
That the bottom of the order isn’t hitting is one thing. That Mark Teixeira isn’t hitting is another. He’s had a pretty bad playoffs overall, notching just two hits in the ALDS. Of course, those two hits were as big as they get: a single prior to a game-tying homer, and a walk-off shot in the same game. Since then, in four games, Teixeira has just one hit. He is 1 for 13 in the ALDS with a lone single, walking three times to five strikeouts. It hurts so much more because he’s batting in the three hole.
It’s April all over again for Tex. It appears the long breaks have disrupted his rhythm. That’s anecdotal, of course, but it matches with what we’ve heard about Teixeira from day one. He starts slow every year because he needs to get into a rhythm from both sides of the plate. Joe Morgan (of all people) explained it on a Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, noting that while most hitters transfer their weight from their back foot to their front, Teixeira stays on his back foot for his whole swing. I wonder how much Tex would benefit from having a non-roster pitcher, like Brian Bruney, throw him live BP, at game speeds.
Robinson Cano came to the plate twice yesterday with runners on first and second with none out, and twice bounced into a fielder’s choice. In fact, he doesn’t have a hit with runners in scoring position all series. His only RBI came on a triple with a man on first. He’s just 3 for 13 in the series with a GIDP. The Yankees certainly need the guy who hit .320 this season.
Batting after Cano is Nick Swisher, who has been equally as bad if not worse. After going 1 for 12 in the ALDS, Swisher is 2 for 10 in the ALCS with five strikeouts. A few of those have been costly, coming with a runner on third and less than two outs. Swisher’s woes at the plate are amplified when A.J. Burnett starts. Because Jose Molina bats ninth and Jorge Posada is out of the lineup, Swisher hits sixth. Unless he does something tonight, putting him in that spot isn’t the best idea.
Rounding out the order is Melky Cabrera who, after a good Game 1, has slowed down considerably. He went 1 for 2 with two walks in the opening match, but since has gone 2 for 11 with no walks and four strikeouts. He’s the No. 9 hitter, so it’s tough to expect the world from him. Still, Melky has stumbled in the playoffs. He’s just 5 for 25 this postseason, which is bad even for the last hitter in the lineup.
So far the Yankees have gotten by with timely (i.e., late) hitting and solid pitching. But the home runs won’t come against everyone. The Yankees have to start taking advantage of their opportunities earlier in the game, and that means Teixeira, Cano, Swisher, and Melky have to produce. After yesterday’s loss, the Yankees could use it tonight more than ever.
Nick Swisher can brighten up any clubhouse
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s hard to imagine the 2009 Yankees without Nick Swisher. Relegated to fourth outfielder status heading into the season, Swisher became the full-time right fielder after Xavier Nady blew out his elbow and hasn’t looked back. He’s en route to what could be the best season of his career. His 59 extra base hits must have Kenny Williams wondering why the hell he traded him for Wilson Betemit and Jeff Marquez last winter.
The Yankees traded for Swisher because they thought they could get a productive player on the cheap. It was certainly a gamble of sorts, as Swisher had a horrible season in 2008. Not only did the Yanks win the gamble, but they got a dividend on their investment. Not only did they get a productive player, but they got a unique personality who brought life to the rigid Yankees clubhouse. That might not add to the team’s baseball output, but it sure makes for a great story.
Swisher is no stranger to stories. He played a big role in Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, the blue chip prospect that even Billy Beane, he who drafted Jeremy Brown in the first round, couldn’t pass up. Scouts and sabermetricians alike loved Swisher for his approach and his power, and it was only after a few breaks that he even fell to the A’s. Once he made the majors, it was inevitable that he’d become a reporter’s dream.
Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated captured Swisher perfectly with a lede he wrote in 2006:
Nick Swisher is good. He is home-run-beltin’, sideburn-wearin’, nonstop-talkin’, bear-hug-dispensin’, self-proclaimin’ good. His coaches know it, his teammates know it, and most of all Swisher knows it.
The sideburns don’t fly in the Bronx, but other than that Swisher is the same guy now as he was then. It seems as though the Yankees clubhouse has come to embrace it. They have been portrayed as a rigid bunch over the years, but the off-season additions, especially Swisher, have seemingly helped turn that around. At least Johnny Damon thinks so:
“He’s had an impact on the clubhouse,” adds Johnny Damon, whose locker is next to Swisher’s. “When I came over, I mean, this place was kinda dead, you know? I almost had to watch everything I said. I didn’t want to upset anyone. But having characters in here has helped everyone. It’s kind of like how Kevin Millar helped me in Boston – we changed the way things were in Boston, but it took another guy to put it full throttle.
“It’s completely different in here now. It’s great, we’re in this new stadium and there’s a lot of room to have fun.”
Even better is what Andy Pettitte has to say about young Swisher. “Nick loves to talk, that’s for sure.” This recalls one of my favorite Swisher stories of all time, as relayed by Ballard:
In college two of his teammates offered him $50 if he could stay quiet for a long bus ride back to Columbus. “It was the hardest thing for me to do. I wanted to just shoot myself,” he says. “But”–and here he brightens up–”I got my 50 bucks, boy!”
While this was meant to be an upbeat post about the most ebullient Yankee, Swisher’s charity work also deserves a nod. He has his own charity, Swish’s Wishes, which is “dedicated to enriching lives and lifting the spirits of children who are facing vital health issues while providing care, comfort and support through the most difficult of times.” He also works with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and has donated hair to women who have lost theirs from cancer treatments — an homage to his grandmother, Betty Swisher, who died of brain cancer in 2005. A list of Swisher’s charity work is available on his website.
It might be early morning, but hey, it’s a Friday, so I propose a toast to Nick Swisher. The Yanks got him for next to nothing, and he’s been an important cog in a high-powered offense. Whether he’s slamming a walk-off home run or taking a key walk, Swisher is contributing to this offense and to the clubhouse. So let’s crown his ass. He is who he thought he was.
A great big Swisher bear hug to The Yankees Universe for the tip.
The Yankees are good at offense
Posted by: | CommentsI’m going to give you the offensive stats of two players over the last three months, dating back to June 11th:
Player A: .269-.361-.480, .211 IsoP, .291 BABIP, 11.6 BB%, 17.0 K%
Player B: .253-.363-.479, .226 IsoP, .279 BABIP, 14.7 BB%, 19.6 K%
Both players play every day for the Yanks, yet one is universally beloved and has been touted as not just an MVP candidate, but the favorite by some. The second player is either loved or hated by fans, there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. You’re all smart, so I’m not going to string you along any more. Player A is Mark Teixeira, Player B is Nick Swisher.
Now, by no means am I saying Swish is as good as Tex. Tex provides far more defensive value than Swish ever will, but offensively, the two have provided nearly identical output over the last 80 games. For fun, let’s take a look at the rest of the infield over the last 80 games.
Alex Rodriguez: .304-.416-.520, .216 IsoP, .354 BABIP, 14.4 BB%, 20.8 K%
Derek Jeter: .355-.418-.486, .131 IsoP, .392 BABIP, 9.3 BB%, 12.3 K%
Robbie Cano: .329-.359-.553, .224 IsoP, .339 BABIP, 4.1 BB%, 10.9 K%
We’re talking about an 80 game sample here, for all intents and purposes half of the season, not 80 at-bats. You can make a case that in that time, Mark Teixeira has been the least productive hitter on his own infield. This isn’t meant to slight Tex at all; he’s been tremendous and frankly better than I think anyone really expected in his first year in pinstripes. What I’m trying to point out is that the Yanks offense is absurdly good.
On days when Melky Cabrera starts in center, every regular in the lineup has at least a 100 OPS+, and just one of the nine hitters (Melk) is below 123. 123! As a team, the Yanks have an .841 OPS on the season, far and away the best in baseball. The second place team, Boston, has an .804 OPS. And if you want to try any sort of Yankee Stadium bandbox funny business, consider they have an .829 OPS on the road, still the best in baseball by a considerable amount.
It’s time to have a Kevin Long appreciation thread, isn’t it?
Yanks walk off with 3-2 win
Posted by: | Comments
For the second time in two days (and three games), we were treated to my favorite brand of game: the pitcher’s duel. From David Price, we might have been able to expect it. He’s had his struggles, but is a promising pitcher who has started to come around lately. From Chad Gaudin, the hope was to get five serviceable innings. He provided that and a bit more, and the Yanks took advantage.
It’s sometimes tough to write much about pitcher’s duels. There were definite turning points of this game, but I’d like to take this one hockey style: three stars. I think they’re pretty clear in this case.
Third Star: Alex Rodriguez
Alex was in the right place at the right time in three instances last night, and he took advantage in each. In the top of the first, Carl Crawford skied a pitch to left center, which was just out of Johnny Damon’s reach. The speedy Crawford took advantage of the ball’s hang time and trotted into third with ease. The Rays had a chance to stake Price to an early lead, and with Longoria and Zobrist due up, they had a good chance to do so.
Longoria hit a sharp grounder which A-Rod fielded cleanly. Crawford was already a good deal off the bag, and A-Rod looked him down before throwing to first. But, judging that he was too far away from the bag, A-Rod did what they teach you in Little League: run right at him and make the runner commit. A-Rod moved toward him, and then iced the play by faking a throw, which tied up Crawford just long enough. A-Rod chased him until he was almost home, then flipped to Posada. This was good strategy by Crawford, since he can outrun Jorge. But Jorge chased diligently, flipping to Jerry Hairston for the putout.
In the top of the sixth, A-Rod came to the plate with runners on first and second with two outs. The Yanks had a 1-0 lead, but insurance runs are always welcome. Price tried to come inside with a 2-2 fastball, but A-Rod jumped on it, smacking it to left. Johnny Damon scored easily, and that put the Yanks up by two. That run came in handy the next inning, when Evan Longoria homered to lead off and cut the lead to one. It would come even more handily when Jason Bartlett homered to tie it.
Finally, Alex made a nice play on a Dioner Navarro grounder in the seventh. With runners on first and second and one out, Brian Bruney got Navarro to hit one on the ground toward third. A-Rod move to his right and was leaning while getting to the ball. He almost certainly could have thrown out the slow Navarro, but instead used his momentum to sprint to third ahead of Ben Zobrist. It wasn’t as impressive a play as the other two, but it saved the Yanks from a situation where a Willy Aybar single could have put the Rays ahead.
Second Star: Chad Gaudin
After Gaudin’s last two starts, it was tough to expect a lot. But Gaudin stepped up and pitched very well through six innings. He had used just 64 pitches to get through those six innings, and allowed just four hits and walked one. If Girardi had pulled the plug at that point, I doubt anyone would have cared (save for those who think anything Girardi does is moronic; there will always be those types). But with his pitch count so low, Girardi decided to push his luck.
Gaudin fell apart in the seventh, allowing a leadoff homer followed by a single and a walk, putting the tying run in scoring position with none out. That would be it for him, but even with the less than stellar performance in the seventh, Gaudin left with a respectable line: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. He deserved the W in this one. Thankfully, that stat means nothing in the grand scheme of things (as in, pitcher wins).
First Star: Nick Swisher
Had this game ended 2-1, I was leaning towards Swisher as third star. His homer in the first was pretty key, considering how well Price was pitching. But A-Rod had those three nice plays, and it’s hard to downplay the start by Gaudin. But then Phil Hughes allowed a leadoff homer to Jason Bartlett, tying the score. The Yanks were looking for another walk-off at that point, and Swisher delivered with his second bomb of the night.
Entering last night’s game, Swisher had 24 homers, 21 of which were on the road. In other words, 2/5 of Swisher’s home run total at Yankee Stadium came in last night’s game. Given that, he was the most unlikely hero. Maybe this breaks his curse of not being able to hit bombs at home. If the guy had hit half as many homers at home as he has on the road, he’d have over 30 bombs right now. There are four guys in the AL tied for third with 31 homers, and two tied for seventh with 30, just for some context.
The win puts the Yanks magic number down to a Munsonian 15. It also puts them at a .750 win percentage since the All-Star Break (hat tip Rebecca). It’s a pretty wild ride. I’m just glad we can all enjoy it together. Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow. Joba Chamberlain tries, once again, to redeem himself. Behemoth Jeff Niemann goes for the Rays.
Photo credit: David Pokress
The bunt that drove us all crazy
Posted by: | CommentsIf you want to read our indictment of Joba Chamberlain’s poor outing last night, head on down to Joe’s recap. I’m not here to talk about Ol’ Two-Out Run Joba. I want to talk about bunting and why it’s generally a very bad idea.
Baseball is a game played without a clock. Instead of 48 or 60 minutes, baseball teams get precious outs. Each side has 27 of them, and at the end of those 27 outs, whichever team has more runs wins. Just as teams don’t like to give up minutes in football, why should managers leading a team on offense ever opt to give up outs? Some will say it improves their chances of winning, but in reality it doesn’t.
In fact, it has been proven that at no point in the game does giving up an out in exchange for a base lead to a better chance at scoring runs — and runs, after all, represent the ultimate goal of a baseball game. Before we arrive at Nick Swisher, Joe Girardi and the bunt that made me want to punch a wall, take a look at Baseball Prospectus’ run matrix. This chart details how many runs a team at bat scores in any given situation. For example, with runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out, a team is expected to score 1.50766. With one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, a team is expected to score 1.43489 runs.
There are two key points here. First, with that extra out and extra base, a team’s total runs scored decreases by around 0.07 runs. Is that by itself worth eschewing the bunt? Probably not. After all, a team with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out still scores, on average, more than 1 run in that situation. There is, however, a need to consider who is batting.
And now, we return to the Yankees. According to Jack Curry, Joe Girardi, with two on and no one out, asked Nick Swisher to bunt. Now, Nick Swisher is a power hitter. On the season, he has a 123 OPS+ and has hit 123 career home runs. He also gets on base 37 percent of the time — and, by the way, a team with bases loaded and no one out scores, on average, over two runs in that situation.
So Girardi asks Nick Swisher to bunt. Coming into tonight’s game, Nick Swisher had 7 career bunts in 2978 career plate appearances. Three of those bunts came this year. Not so surprisingly, Nick Swisher popped out, and the runners did not advance.
In the end, last night’s game really annoyed me. Joba was really bad, and the Yanks couldn’t protect an early 4-0 lead. They nearly mounted a comeback, but Joe Girardi stupidly managed it away. They still have a six-game lead, but Girardi has been a slave to bad strategy all year. Had the slumping Melky been up with Jeter behind him, I could see why the team might want to bunt, but Nick Swisher is a hitter. He should never ever be bunting after the Yanks got six batters on and the tying run is already in scoring position with no one out. It just doesn’t make sense.
Are the Yanks trying to hit fly balls?
Posted by: | CommentsOne thing that’s become apparent over the course of this season: the Yanks are built for their home ballpark. Among their nine regulars they have just two righties. The rest are lefties or switch-hitters. Since the majority of pitchers are righties, that means the Yankees bat from the left side of the plate more often than not, which gives them a nice, short shot at the right field fence. This has led Pat Andriola of The Hardball Times to wonder whether the Yanks hitters are trying to put the ball in the air. Unsurprisingly, some players are experiencing the highest flyball rates of their careers: Mark Teixeira, Johnny Damon, and Jorge Posada, while Hideki Matsui is in the midst of his second highest rate season.
Is that necessarily good, though? Sure, Tex is just three homers behind his total from 2008 and is at his total from 2007, but it has come at a cost. Ground balls go for hits more often than fly balls, which has led Teixeira’s BABIP to fall to .289, the lowest of his career. Ditto his line drive rate, at 16.6 percent, and his batting average with runners in scoring position, .268. It’s also led to a high number of infield flies.
Also, Tex’s fly balls aren’t getting out at a greater rate. He has a 17.2 percent home run per fly ball ratio, which is at or below most of his previous years. It would make sense to swing for the fences more if the fly balls were going out at a greater rate, but they’re not. Then again, it’s tough to complain about Tex’s season at all right now. Maybe he’d be better off leveling his swing as in the past, but we just can’t know that. What we do know is that he’s battering the ball at Yankee Stadium.
Strangely, Swisher is not hitting more fly balls this year. In fact, it doesn’t look like he’s tailoring his swing to the new Stadium at all — or if he is, then it’s not working. Hey, maybe that explains his poor home splits. If he’s trying to put the ball over the short porch and is failing, well, that might explain his .206 BA and .323 SLG at home.
It’s an interesting thought, though. Considering how well the Yanks have played at home this season, it would seem to be working, if in fact that’s the case.
