Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Alex Rios- The Most Interesting Man in the World on the SouthSide

Can I help you?



In my last post for GRTW, I had Alex Rios firmly placed in the "John Travolta" category, concluding that his performance went both ways in the first quarter of the season, some good and some bad. In that post, I wrote, "At the dish, Rios is hitting .267/.322/.370, which doesn’t sound great except for the fact that it’s a drastic improvement (so far) over last year’s .227/.265/.348 line. If he keeps his average around .280, chips in a few more home runs, and continues to play a stellar RF, well, it could be worse." True, it could have been worse, but there's no way it could have gotten better, right? Wrong. Since that time, Alex Rios has been better. MUCH better. After today's 12-5 drubbing of the suddenly terrible Twins in which Rios went 3-5 with 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, and hit his 10th HR of the year, his triple slash line looks like this: .302/.340/.496. He also has 40 runs scored, 41 RBI, and 11 SB (w/ only 3 CS) on the year. Pair that with a UZR/150 of 6.4 in RF, and Alex Rios is really playing some ball. 

What is so strange about Rios' performance this year is, well, really, everything. As my fellow Irish alum (and fantastic blogger) James Fegan wrote over at White Sox Observer (article found HERE), Rios's performance last year was horrible in basically every aspect. He didn't hit, he played an awful center field, he only stole 11 bases, and was caught 6 times. However, with the departure of Ozzie and Greg Walker, the insertion of Robin and new hitting coach Jeff Manto, and Rios' move to RF, he's become a new player entirely. In 2011 Alex Rios was worth -0.7 Wins Above Replacement. Through 75 games in 2012, he's already accumulated 1.9 WAR. I have no idea what is driving this renaissance, but whatever it is, I hope Rios continues to draw from its mystical powers. The volatility in Rios' game may not make him the most interesting man in the world, but it certainly makes him the most interesting man on the South Side.