Nady & Swish to Battle it Out

In Jerry Crasnick's ESPN.com article looking at the top 9 position battles to wacth out for this spring training, coming in at #4 were the battles in center field between Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera and right field between Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher.

I wanted to delve into the right field battle between Nady and Swisher a little deeper.

Let's go to the tale of the tape...

Nady is 30 years of age. He is a versatile player who can play both corner outfield positions as well as first base. He is also coming off of a career year split between the Pirates and Yankees last year.

He comes into this year with the following career totals:
BA: .280 OBP: .335 SLG: .458 OPS: .793

Swisher is 28 years of age. He is an even more versatile player, as he is able to play all three outfield positions as well as first base. He is also a better baserunner than Nady. He is coming off of an extremely disappointing year with the White Sox, in which he hit a putrid .219.

His career averages coming into this year are as follows:
BA: .244 OBP: .354 SLG: .451 OPS: .805

While both men should see playing time in the outfield and at DH at times, to the naked eye it may seem that Nady should get the bulk of playing time when looking at the numbers and how the two fared last season. However, in my opinion it should be Swisher who should be given the starting nod over Nady. Why, might you ask? Swisher is the younger and more athletic of the two and can contribute to the team in more ways than Nady can, whether it be taking walks, stealing a base, or superior play in the field.

More so, Swisher’s lack of production last year can be attributed by a few factors. While he did rack up 497 AB’s last year with the White Sox, it was at 5 different positions while batting in every position in the lineup except for the number three spot. If he is given some consistent playing time at the same position in the field and in the lineup, his numbers should improve. Also, Swisher just might have been the unluckiest hitter in the Major’s last season.

JJ Stankevitz of Examiner.com, who also does an excellent job of covering the White Sox has this take: "Swisher's 2008 line drive rate of .204 was the highest of his career, but his BABIP (Batting Average of Balls put In Play)—which, if a player is neither lucky nor unlucky, should be .120 higher than his LD rate—was .251, just 0.47 points higher than his LD rate. That's not just unlucky—that's ridiculously unlucky."

All of these factors including the fact that Swisher has shown more consistent power numbers compared to Nady throughout their careers should make the choice easy for manager Joe Girardi. However, how the two players fare during spring training will weigh heavily on Girardi’s decision, no doubt. Which, in my opinion, is not the best way to judge how a player will perform during a long season, but I digress.

-Favad Ali