A Wise Man… or a Luck Man?

by
October 3, 2008

If you are a Chicago White Sox fan – or even a Tampa Bay Rays fan – you may be asking yourself: “Where the heck did Dewayne Wise come from?” The hot-hitting, 30-year-old outfielder has been around baseball for a very long time. He was originally drafted out of South Carolina at the age of 19 by the Cincinnati Reds with the 158th pick (fifth round) of the 1997 amateur draft.

Wise then bounced around the low minors for three seasons without doing anything overly spectacular. However, impressed with his speed, athleticism and raw power potential, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Wise in the Rule 5 draft and he spent the 2000 season in the big leagues (with the exception of a 15-game rehab stint in Double-A). He appeared in just 28 games and hit .136/.208/.136 as a 22-year-old.

He then spent the next three seasons in the Blue Jays system and appeared in 42 more big league games but showed nothing with the bat and hit below .200. Wise moved on to the Atlanta organization and took advantage of some injuries with the big league club and appeared in 72 MLB games but hit just .228/.272/.444 with six homers and six stolen bases.

Over the next three seasons, Wise spent a year with the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate and two years with the Reds organization, where he managed to appear in another 36 MLB games, but again hit below .200 during that time. The White Sox then took a flyer on Wise for the 2008 season and caught lightening in a bottle. He hit .319/.402/.565 in 191 Triple-A at-bats with nine homers and 15 stolen bases.

Wise was then called up to the big league club where he hit .248/.293/.450 in 129 at-bats. He impressed the White Sox brass enough to be included on the post-season roster after he hit some big homers to help the club achieve a post-season berth. In his first post-season start against Tampa Bay earlier this week, Wise went 1-for-3 with a three-run homer against Rays’ ace James Shields.

After battling in obscurity for 11 seasons, Wise deserves to bask in the spotlight. However, the same questions that have plagued Wise throughout his career remain. It’s unlikely that he’s finally broken out at the age of 30. He is still displaying a low walk rate (5.8% with a career rate of 4.7%) and a high strikeout rate (24.8% with a career rate of 18.6%). His 2008 BABIP is also .050 higher than his career rate. Wise’s numbers are more indicative of a fourth outfielder, than a starting left-fielder in the Major League playoffs.

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Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.

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