At the beginning of this season Rios' batting stance was changed to a
crouch position.
This worked well for a while but is not any longer. Come to think of it,
not many
great sluggers have hit from a crouched position rather than an upright
position--, not Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Mickey
Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willy Mays or Joe Dimaggio--to name just a few.

Right now Rios has a long, lazy swing that causes him to foul off too many
hittable
pitches to the right side. Often when he does hit the ball fair it is a
lazy fly to the outfield
or a ground ball to an infielder that he rolls over on.

There is no snap in his swing as in that of Vernon Wells or Reed Johnson.
Rios to break his
slump should try something different. Perhaps standing upright, raising
his left foot to get
his weight behind his swing, shortening his swing and his bat grip and
swinging harder using
his wrists and arms more effectively.

He can't continue for long they way he is going. His average, after
returning from the DL
with a staph infection, is in the low 200 range. No major league club can
afford have a corner
outfielder playing regularly with such an anemic batting average.
Rios is going to have to try something different fast
or it is back to the bench or Syracuse.