NewsWise trying to prove himself with Sox
After rushing back from injury, outfielder searching for stroke
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com
06/16/09 10:00 PM ET
CHICAGO -- If Dewayne Wise had to map out a perfect 2009 season ...Well, it would look nothing like what has transpired over the past 2 1/2 months for the White Sox left-handed-hitting outfielder.
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Wise won the starting center-field and leadoff jobs out of Spring Training, only to open with two hits in his first 15 at-bats to get dropped to the bottom of the order. Just as he started to get going with the bat, Wise separated his right shoulder making a spectacular diving catch in right-center to help the White Sox win a game in Detroit on April 13.
The injury knocked Wise out of action until May 29, when he returned early from an injury rehab assignment because Carlos Quentin was hurt. Since that comeback, Wise has just one hit in 24 at-bats. For the year, Wise has a .133 average, without a home run or an RBI.
A strong desire to make an immediate impression on the White Sox as soon he returned to the Majors turned out to be the wrong attitude to take, as Wise quickly realized.
"The worst thing I could have done is come back up here and put a lot of pressure on myself," said Wise, sitting in the cramped visitors' clubhouse at Wrigley Field on Tuesday evening. "I took the attitude like, 'I have to go out today and get two or three hits. I have to go do it.'
"Instead, I needed to just go out there and relax and play. I haven't been doing that. I don't have many at-bats, so I wanted to come back and have a good start. I didn't want to get into this kind of a hole."
Wise's low average certainly invites criticism, as he well understands. But Wise doesn't necessarily have to sit back and take the derogatory comments heaped upon him.
During a recent interview with Mouthpiece Sports, Wise expressed a level of disappointment in the way he had been treated by some of the fans and some of the media. As Wise explained, he wasn't even able to swing a bat until the five-week mark of his seven-week absence, so it's not exactly easy to jump back into the offensive flow.
But in Tuesday's talk with MLB.com, Wise pointed out how that criticism started even before the injury.
"I'm just talking about, me coming up here last year and doing what I've done, stepping in and contributing and helping the team win," said Wise, who hit .248 with six home runs and 18 RBIs last season, with four home runs and 11 RBIs in September. "Coming out here this year and right away from Opening Day, it seemed like a lot of people didn't want me in that starting role.
"I didn't mean anything by it. I wasn't trying to bad mouth people or get back at them. Some times in this game, it's how things work, and you know, I'm not letting it get to me. The questions just kept coming up.
"I just think everyone has their own opinion," Wise said. "People say Chicago is a tough place to play when you are not doing well or whatever. Fans are going to do what they want to do."
Earlier in the year, a tough right-hander such as Carlos Zambrano on the mound would have meant a start for Wise. Now, he has been relegated to spot-starts, pinch-hitting and pinch-running. This current slump hasn't deterred Wise's hope to still prove himself, although those days could be running short in Chicago with Quentin expected back by after the All-Star break.
"My hope is that I can get another shot," Wise said. "Just show them that I can do this. I can get out of this slump."
Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
