Name: Nick Swisher
Rank: 487
Position: OF/1B
Year with White Sox: 2008
In January 2008, Kenny Williams pulled the trigger on a deal that would send three prospects to the Oakland A’s in exchange for Nick Swisher, a switch hitting outfielder/first baseman who could get on base and provide some pop. Swisher was also supposed to be a great clubhouse presence, someone who could keep the team loose throughout the course of the season.
With Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye entrenched at first base and right field respectively, the plan was to plug Swisher into left field. Unfortunately, another off season pickup, Carlos Quentin, managed to earn the job out of spring training, leaving Swisher to play out of position for most of the season in center field.
To say things did not go as planned would be a bit of an understatement. As the season wore on, and Swisher continued to not perform, his demeanor changed and you could say his attitude hurt the team almost as much as his .219 average. When manager Ozzie Guillen dared to sit him on the bench occasionally down the stretch while trying to win the division, Swisher showed his true colors by complaining. When he did play, he was so interested in trying to walk that the easiest way to get him out was to lay one right down the middle.
After the playoff loss to the Rays, Williams wasted no time in shipping him out to the Yankees, less than a year after he had been acquired.
Swisher’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
| BA | AtBats | Runs | Hits | RBIs | Walks | StrikeOuts | Doubles | Triples | HomeRuns | StolenBases | GIDPs | Errors | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.227 | 141 | 30 | 32 | 22 | 28 | 40 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 47 |
| 0.219 | 497 | 86 | 109 | 69 | 82 | 135 | 21 | 1 | 24 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 153 |