The Chicago White Sox should be closer to the division lead than they currently are. One of the big reasons, Alex Rios. He is hitting .215 with 8 homers and 32 runs batted in. He has 23 walks and 54 strikeouts and 52 runs scored.
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has moved him up and down the lineup throughout the year, nothing has sseemed to worked. He is hitting .280 with 0 homers and 4 runs batted in, in the third spot in 25 at bats. He has the most at bats and homers in the sixth spot in the order this year. The only problem is he is only hitting, .185 from there with a .506 ops. That is not good
anyway you look at it.
Even looking at different situations he is really still not getting the job done and should be on the bench. His highest batting average in situations is with nobody on, where is hitting a whooping .229 with 5 homers. With runners on, he is hitting .194 and with them in scoring position he is hitting .176. With the bases loaded he doesn’t have a hit in 11 at bats.
His best month of the year was June in which he hit .266 in 79 at bats with three homers. Since the all star break he is hitting .219 in 137 at bats with 2 homers and 11 runs batted in.
His fielding has been ok this year. In 122 games in center he has two errors this year in 311 chances. Why the Sox keep putting him in the lineup and hoping that he will change is beyond most people’s thinking. Even at his best he really hasn’t done much spectacular in his career. He is a .274 career hitter with 113 homers and 524 runs batted in.
The biggest question is what else can the Sox do. The biggest problem is that they have two high priced flops this year. Yes, Adam Dunn has more of a track record and should rebound. I think that Rios needs to be shipped somewhere for some prospects or something that could be of use down the road. Currently they have Juan Pierre who has really started to hit.
Alejandro De Aza who, i’m not totally convinced of yet.
Yes he has had a good showing so far in the bigs, but he struggled last year. Do you just hand him the job? Carlos Quentin, well can he stay healthy? Be more consistent? He is almost in the same boat as Rios.
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David Malamut writes his own website, Malamut.net , he is on twitter @davidmalamut