2009 White Sox player review: Dewayne Wise

November 4, 2:33 PMChicago White Sox ExaminerJJ Stankevitz

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Wise's run with the White Sox appears to be over. (Mark Duncan/AP)

If Dewayne Wise hadn't made possibly the greatest catch in White Sox history, his time with the White Sox would have quickly been forgotten. In two years with the White Sox, Wise hit .236/.277/.406 with no other memorable moments besides his go-ahead grand slam against Detroit in 2008.

But that all changed with one deep fly ball off the bat of Gabe Kapler. In the matter of a leap, bobble, and tumble, Wise went from an afterthought to a nationally-known name. I don't think anybody could have ever expected to see Dewayne Wise's name on the front page of CNN.com—but on July 23 and 24, his name was front and center on the website.

Wise cemented a special place in White Sox lore with that catch. No matter his offensive deficiencies, White Sox fans will always remember Wise for the catch he made to save Mark Buehrle's perfect game.

But that catch obviously didn't mean the White Sox thought highly enough of Wise to bring him back. Thankfully, the Sox didn't get caught up in the sentimental aspect of Wise—instead, they looked at the statistical side of Wise and decided he wasn't worth retaining.

Key stats
GP: 84
PA: 153
AB: 142
Batting average: .225
OBP: .262
Slugging: .366
OPS: .628
OPS+: 60
wOBA: .264
2B: 8
3B: 3
HR: 2
BB/SO:
RBI: 11
SB/CS: 4/5
BABIP: .265
UZR (OF): 11.0
WAR: 0.6

On first glance, that WAR of 0.6 isn't bad for a backup outfielder. But that rating was greatly influenced by Wise's high UZR, which was a departure from his career average of, well, average defense.

Because UZR is measured against the league average, fluctuations like Wise's UZR jumping from -3.0 in 2008 to 11.3 in 2009 will happen. Therefore, Wise may not have had that significant of an improvement defensively—instead, it's more likely the league average outfielder was a worse defender and Wise looked better against that league average.

That's not to say Wise was a bad defender in 2009, though. But don't let his catch in Buehrle's perfect game or this similarly great catch fool you—those two catches were just two in a very large sample of plays Wise made.

Unless Wise puts together another above-average defensive season in 2010, I'm still going to assume he's about a league-average defender who had a good year in '09, but maybe not as good as the numbers indicate.

So if Wise returns to that league-average defense with below-average offensive numbers in 2010 (assuming he catches on with a MLB team, which is far from a given), then his value will be right back to about zero, at least as rated by FanGraphs.

Personally, I like Wise. I think he wouldn't be a bad option for a team to have in its farm system, ready to be called up to the majors in case of an injury. While he doesn't steal a lot of bases, he has good speed and wouldn't be an awful pinch-runner/defensive replacement for a slow, clumsy defensive outfielder.

But I don't think teams can justify having him on their 25-man roster without an injury to somebody ahead of him who can hit a little bit. I hope he catches on somewhere and sees some sort of success, but I'm not sure either will happen.

Even if he doesn't catch on anywhere, though, he'll still always hold a special place in the memories of White Sox fans.