Sleeper of the Week

Those familiar with Michael Lewis’s Moneyball will also already be familiar with Nick Swisher, the outfielder Oakland GM Billy Beane placed at the top of his list of prospects available in the 2002 draft, and eventually acquired with the 16th overall pick. Two years later, Swisher has made his major league debut, going one-for three with a double and two runs scored in a 7-4 win over Toronto. Perhaps symbolically, Swisher picked up two walks in that contest.

Nick Swisher, the son of former big-league catcher Steve Swisher, isn’t the prototypical Moneyball player however, beloved by stats geeks, ignored by old school baseball insiders. On the contrary: Swisher was a consensus first-round pick, combining both the raw talent that makes scouts swoon and the statistics coveted by Beane and company.

In his first two minor league seasons at the A and AA levels, Swisher’s numbers were of the good-but-not-great variety: a .362 OBP, an OPS of .797, 21 HR in 189 games played, and a 117/184 BB/K ratio. This season, however, the switch-hitter has taken his game to a new level, At AAA Sacramento, Swisher has taken a base on balls almost as frequently as he has struck out (103/109), raising his OBP to .406. He has also started to develop power, hitting 29 home runs with a .537 SLG.

In spite of his potential, don’t expect Swisher to contribute much to your pennant run this season. Not only will he need to adapt to playing in the majors, but his playing time remains uncertain at this point. In a deep keeper or dynasty league, however, he’s well worth picking up, no matter whether you subscribe to the Moneyball school of thought or not. Whether your scoring system is traditional or influenced by sabermetrics, Nick Swisher could turn into a highly valuable fantasy asset.