MOOSIC, Pa. — Nick Swisher spent part of his pregame signing autographs on Saturday — but once again, it was at a minor league park and not with the Yankees.
After seeing Dustin Ackley and Mark Teixeira both go down with injuries, the 35-year-old saw Rob Refsnyder and Chris Parmelee head to the Yankees, while Swisher served as the DH for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
“I guess they don’t owe me anything,” Swisher said of the Yankees, who signed him after he was cut loose by Atlanta this season. “They’re giving me an opportunity to play every day to show what I still have. But I don’t want to be here. … I’m not giving up.”
That’s clear, since he still is hanging around in a clubhouse filled with minor leaguers.
“It’s frustrating to see guys get hurt and a lot of different people get called up and not be one of them,” Swisher said before the RailRiders faced Columbus. “It’s like, ‘What do I have to do?’ And then you try to do too much. I just have to play better.”
He insisted he is not ready to call it a day.
Asked if he wonders how much longer how much he will be able to play, Swisher said: “Always. But I have a goal, and nine out of 10 times, I get that goal.”
But a disastrous stretch, during which his OPS has plummeted from 1.037 on April 27 to .614 on Saturday makes it look like this might be the exception.
“I picked the wrong time to have a bad month,” Swisher said. “And I’m happy for the guys that got the call.”
So he will have to stick it out in Triple-A.
“I’ve learned more about the minor leagues this go-round than I ever did before,” Swisher said. “It’s been six weeks, but it feels a lot longer.”
The lack of production doesn’t help.
“I’m just gonna keep grinding and keep being me,” Swisher said. “Hopefully somebody will want that.”
And despite all signs indicating otherwise, Swisher continues to believe it will be the Yankees.
“I know I have the whole fan base, the whole city behind me,” Swisher said. “I’m not doing it for the money. I just want to be on that field and hear that crowd again.”