Nick Swisher Is the Worst Player in Yankees Postseason History, and Here's Why

New York Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher went 1-for-5 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. His one hit Saturday night was a double and he had a walk and a strikeout.

Defensively, Swisher misplayed Delmon Young’s line drive into an RBI double in the 12th inning allowing the go-ahead run to score. In the sixth inning, Swisher allowed a flare by Young to fall about a step in front of him when a dive or slide could have allowed him to make the catch. 

In six postseason games this October, Swisher is hitting .130 (3-for-23) with a double, one RBI, three walks and six strikeouts.

Swisher joined the Yankees in 2009 and in four postseasons has been a non-factor at the plate. For his Yankees career, Swisher is 19-for-123 in 34 playoff games (a .154 batting average). He’s scored 12 runs, hit six doubles and four home runs and driven in six runs. He has 15 walks and 34 strikeouts.

One series is a cold spell. Two or three is a slump. The ALCS is Swisher’s eighth series since coming to New York. We’re past cold spell and past slump—we’re all the way to trend.

Swisher is undoubtedly the worst player in the long postseason history of the Yankees.

Want proof? Below are the five lowest batting averages for players with more than 50 postseason at-bats for New York:

NAME/YEARS	AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO
Nick Swisher (2009-12)	.154	34	123	12	19	6	0	4	6	15	34
Joe Collins (1950-53, 1955-57)	.163	36	92	15	15	3	0	4	10	14	22
Aaron Boone (2003)	.170	17	53	4	9	1	0	2	4	1	15
Frankie Crosetti (1932, 1936-39, 1942-43)	.174	29	115	16	20	5	1	1	11	14	20
Mariano Duncan (1996)	.180	14	50	1	9	2	0	0	3	0	11

Statistics from baseball-reference.com.

The evidence is right there. Swisher is at the bottom of the Yankees' postseason barrel. The shame of it is that Swisher is a guy who plays very hard. In his four seasons with the Yankees, his triple-slash line is .268/.367/.483 and he has 105 homers and 349 RBI.

But Swisher is due to be a free agent this winter and the simple fact is that being a Yankee has never been defined by one’s regular-season success. The Yankees are judged by how they perform on the game’s biggest stage in October.

And under that microscope, Nick Swisher has come up short too many times.