Sunday, April 19, 2009

Quick Words on Alex Rios


Relax.

No, he doesn't look good right now. Some might even say he looks lost. But let's take a few things into account, just to make ourselves feel better.

His BABIP is very low compared to his line drive rate, which is very high (almost 30%). Very, very high. Hitting line drives is good for business, so long as he keeps that up he'll be good. He's just hitting it at people. He was, I should add. He hasn't hit a line drive since last Saturday in Minnesota. Ouch.

Remember the point I've been hammering on for two weeks now? I've been praising Rios's walk rate because, for him, it's absurdly high. It was, I should add. His walk yesterday was his first since Cleveland. His pitches per plate appearance are normal, he's just not making good contact.

Kman from Mop Up Duty suggested Alex needs to keep his ground ball numbers down to be successful, something he surely isn't doing now. His GB rate is well above his career number and still well above his fly ball rate, too. Since the Jays left Cleveland Rios has been racking up the ground balls at a frightening rate. 12 in the last five games. Yikes. What was the point of this again?

Oh, I remember! The picture dummy! Walk off jacks! Playoffs! Look at that picture closely, do you see a really tall Puerto Rican guy? I don't. I noticed during the highlights Rios was one of the last one to the pile-on and is effort was lacking. Is this a real thing worth thinking about? No. It isn't. Though baseball players are pretty much ridiculous. If the rest of the team thinks he's putting himself before a winning team, it will be blackball city for Alexis. Clearly he doesn't need the grief right now.

So we should all relax. He's just in a slump. Of epic proportions. He'll be fine. Or else!

4 comments:

  1. You're right, he'll come around. And I noticed Rios' slow jog to the plate as well. I'm sure there was some excuse, maybe on his way back from the clubhouse...? I have no idea.

    But you know who is not making you question effort or team play? Travis Snider. How about that head first slide into first yesterday? haha what?! Add that on to the few times this season where he has launched himself on the turf and you can see a kid who is doing anything to not get sent down to AAA. He's playing like a 5'8 middle infielder worried about losing his starting job. GRIT! And watch the Overbay homer/look at pics... Dude was losing his shit. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's funny. I thought that players like MacDonald were getting in there and the stars like Halladay, Wells and Rios were just taking it easy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wells and Hill seemed to be all about it. I seem to remember officially team goof Burnett being right in the thick of it all.

    Halladay is exempt from the incidental celebrations of the hoi polloi

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was sitting above the plate in the 5's yesterday and Rios looked very tentative when he was batting and his shallow fly to right with 2 guys on was pathetic.
    He and Vernon had a lengthy talk in the on-deck circle late in the game. I hope Vernon was telling him to smarten the fuck up.

    ReplyDelete

Send forth the witticisms from on high