The 2009 New York Yankees team was special. The Yankees went 103-59 overall that season and won the AL East division. Then in the postseason, they swept through the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS and then won over the Los Angeles Angels in the ALCS. After that, the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games in the 2009 World Series. One player, in particular, who was important to the Yankees’ success that season was outfielder and first baseman, Nick Swisher. While he has not played with the Yankees in the majors since 2012 and has not played in the MLB since 2015, Swisher is still certainly around the game.

Becoming a slugger for the Oakland Athletics

After playing in 20 games during the 2004 season for the Oakland Athletics, Nick Swisher’s actual rookie season was in 2005 with the A’s. Swisher ultimately finished sixth in American League Rookie of the Year voting that year as he hit 21 home runs to go with 74 RBIs. 

Swisher then continued to be a home run hitter for the A’s as he hit 35 home runs to go with 95 RBIs in 2006 and then hit 22 home runs to go with 78 RBIs in 2007. In January 2008, though, the A’s traded Swisher to the Chicago White Sox. Swisher ultimately hit 24 home runs to go with 69 RBIs for the White Sox in 2008.

Swisher was a big part of the Yankees winning the World Series

In November 2008, the White Sox traded Swisher to the New York Yankees. Swisher ultimately hit 29 home runs to go with 82 RBIs for the Yankees in 2009, helping them win 103 games. The Yankees ended up going on a magical postseason run that year and while Swisher didn’t have the best postseason, he came up big in Game 3 of the World Series. The Yankees won 8-5 in Game 3 and Swisher went two-for-four at the plate, scored two runs, and hit a home run.

After winning the World Series, Swisher ended up having a great year in 2010. He earned the only All-Star selection of his career that year as he had a career-high .288 batting average. That was along with 29 home runs and 89 RBIs.

Swisher played for the Yankees in 2011 and 2012 and hit over 20 home runs and had over 80 RBIs in each season. He then signed with the Cleveland Indians in December 2012 and played with them in 2013, 2014, and part of the 2015 season. After hitting 22 home runs to go with 63 RBIs in 2013, though, Swisher only played in 97 games in 2014 and only hit eight home runs. Swisher then played in 76 games with the Indians and Atlanta Braves in 2015. He only hit six total home runs in those games.

Swisher has not played in the majors since. He played in 55 games in the minors for the Yankees in 2016 but never got the call to the bigs. Swisher then officially announced his retirement in February 2017. 

What is Swisher doing now? 

In February 2017, Swisher joined FOX Sports as a studio analyst. He also contributes to MLB WHIPAROUND on FOX Sports 1 during the season and is a guest on FS1 daily studio shows, according to his bio on FOXSports.com.

In addition to his work at FOX, Swisher joined the New York Yankees as a special advisor to general manager Brian Cashman prior to the 2018 season. He visits their minor league teams, learns how the front office works, and occasionally shows up to Yankee Stadium, according to Newsday.

Swisher did not do anything for FOX during the 2019 postseason but was around the Yankees during the team’s 2019 postseason run, according to Newsday. When he was asked during the playoffs what he wants to do in the future, though, Swisher seemed to have his options open. 

“I don’t know quite exactly what I want to do,” Swisher said, according to Newsday. “I know I really enjoy being home with my family and being a dad. But down the road, maybe I’m a manager. Maybe I’m a general manager. That’s the reason why I took this job (special advisor to the GM). I want to learn.”

Nick Swisher

Swisher had a fun personality to watch during his playing days. That personality led to him landing the job at FOX. Maybe it will ultimately land him a manager or GM role with a team in the future too.