Gaston: Rios' batting mechanics are "a mess."

youngLion · Post #1 » by **youngLion** » Sun May 10, 2009 4:48 pm

On ze tap, or right here for your reading pleasure:

"He's staying back on his back half, he's not getting around in time and it's pitch selection, too ... all the things we're talking to him about"

s e n s i · Post #2 » by **s e n s i** » Sun May 10, 2009 5:02 pm

He had the Alexia tag removed for a bit there, but he's looked terrible on this road trip. It looks like we're going to have to deal with his inconsistencies until something is done with mechanics, more importantly weight distribution.

Post #3 » by **Alfred** » Sun May 10, 2009 5:32 pm

Rios' batting stance is stupid. That's probably half of the reason for his inconsistancies.

evilRyu · Post #4 » by **evilRyu** » Sun May 10, 2009 6:12 pm

you'd think that Tenace and Gaston (who used to be a hitting coach) has talked to him endless times... it may be a situation where Rios is just tuning out all advice and figuring it out on his own?

Raps in 4 · Post #5 » by **Raps in 4** » Sun May 10, 2009 10:45 pm

He was 2-4 tonight with 3 RBI. I'm not too worried when I see other guys are struggling too (with tonight as an example, Matt Holliday).

Post #6 » by **Geddy** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:28 am

I never have been a fan of his batting stance. It just appears to be too busy, with too much extra movement when he swings through. Of course it is hard for a batter to completely change his stance at this point in his career so they might as well try to tweak the little things.

evilRyu · Post #7 » by **evilRyu** » Mon May 11, 2009 3:07 am

is anyone else caught off-guard by Cito describing it as "a mess"? that seems a bit harsh to say that out so public... i'm sure he could have used much better synonyms..

s e n s i · Post #8 » by **s e n s i** » Mon May 11, 2009 3:21 am

evilRyu wrote:is anyone else caught off-guard by Cito describing it as "a mess"? that seems a bit harsh to say that out so public... i'm sure he could have used much better synonyms..

It's The Cito, man.

Post #9 » by **spykelee** » Mon May 11, 2009 4:21 am

I'm astonished that if cito where to lambaste anybody, that it's not Wells.

For __ years we've all been watching Vernon Wells faintly swing at those ridiculously outside breaking balls. Every time he comes up the catcher automatically moves over and virtually every pitch is a breaking ball outside that Wells just waives out...

Wells crushes mistake fastballs, but anything away, and he is completely useless and it just baffles me that for his whole career it's been this way and he's never made an adjustment. And why he even swings at that pitch is beyond me, because wells maybe has a grand total of 5 opposite field hits his whole career, and that's the only way you could conceiveavbly hit that pitch...

if anyone's swing's a mess, it's V-dub.

youngLion · Post #10 » by **youngLion** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:07 am

I believe I heard on the radio the other day that Vernon is better than a .300 hitter when he swings at the first pitch.

Post #11 » by **spykelee** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:04 am

youngLion wrote:I believe I heard on the radio the other day that Vernon is better than a .300 hitter when he swings at the first pitch.

I could believe that. If there's any pitch that's likely to be a fastball on the middle to middle in part of the plate it's the first pitch. That's also a vernon trait. Anybody pitching to him should know you never give him a first pitch fastball to hit...

Mustard_Tiger · Post #12 » by **Mustard_Tiger** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:38 am

Career .338 hitter on the 1st pitch. Which really shouldn't be surprising to anybody paying attention.

J-Roc · Post #13 » by **J-Roc** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:37 am

If Rios wants to go up there with a Tony Fernandez batting stance, he needs to stick to basic contact hitting. I think the kid is just confused with being a contact hitter in a power hitter's body.