The Many Frustrations of Nick Swisher

Nick Swisher has been pretty much perpetually underrated in fantasy formats for the past number of years. He has been dual eligible at 1B and OF and has been a strong contributor in OBP leagues, which are the only types of leagues I personally play in. He has pretty consistently hit for mid 20’s power with equal RBI and R contributions that start at the low 80’s and reach to the mid 90’s.

This year, that’s not the Swisher we are getting. At age 32, it does not look like Swisher is finished, but it does look like he is in the starting phases of the decline years. He also got taken from an awesome hitter’s park to a not so awesome hitter’s park, which certainly has its affects in fantasy baseball. But even outside of the unfortunate park movements, he is hitting in a good lineup and should be producing a lot more than he has. Some people have been forced to utilize Swisher at first base due to injuries or poor performances, and the likelihood that their team is successful with Swisher starting at one of the biggest power positions in the league is low.

ZiPS has Swisher at .248/.343/.420 with 11 home runs, no steals, 39 runs, and 39 RBI over 81 remaining games. Which one of those numbers are you satisfied with? I’m not even content with any of them. It is difficult to move Swisher at this point due to how poorly he has hit of late, but selling low on him is not the worst thing you can do. There are still probably a good amount of Swisher believers out there and some who can use his limited flexibility as well.

His name still carries a decent amount of weight and his overall numbers for the year are not yet terrible due to the hot start he had before he was injured. I have Swisher in a few leagues and I am certainly looking to find a suitable trade partner for him. It is not time to sell him for absolutely nothing, but it is time to grab some value for him that you think may have some upside. Because at this point, I think a 107 wRC+ is about what Swisher has to offer.