White Sox Sweep Mariners & An In-depth Look at Alex Rios

Bring out the brooms!
After winning the first two games of their west coast road trip in Seattle, the White Sox went for the sweep on Sunday. In a back and forth game, the Sox were able to bring out the brooms after beating the Mariners 7-4.
While the game started slowly, it soon picked up as after a couple lead changes, the M’s led 4-2 through 4 innings. Chicago starter John Danks, who is technically still the team’s number 1 go-to-guy, was being hit around, yielding several hits and leaving lots of pitches up in the zone. But as he was able to settle in, the offense simultaneously picked up the slack. The Sox were impressive overall at the plate, highlighted by Alex Rios’ 3 RBI in his 3-4 performance.
After the offense coming through, the bullpen looking great, and a couple of insurance runs being tacked on late, the Hector “Screwgie” Santiago got his 4th save in 5 chances as the Sox won the ballgame 7-4 and completed the sweep.
The Sox now head to Oakland where they look to make this west coast road trip turn in to a great one.

Alex Rios Recap and Preview
I’ve talked a lot of “Grab Some Bench!” about the comeback kids Adam Dunn and Jake Peavy, but not so much about the third part of the trio, Alex Rios. From 2010 to 2011, his batting average dropped from .284 to .227, as his RBI total was decreased by half (88/44). He went from being an All Star candidate and great middle of the order presence to a player that looked completely lost on the field. But so far in 2012, Rios has a pretty convincing argument for last year being an anomaly and that he is indeed a very valuable asset for a ball club. He is hitting .333 and has been driving in runs of late. He’s hitting the ball hard to the opposite field, not rolling over on pitches in nearly every at bat like he did in 2011.

So now the question is whether or not Rios can sustain this success throughout the season. While I don’t see his average remaining anywhere too close to .333, where it is at now, I do think he will have a successful season overall. Like I just said, he can easily convince fans and the media that last year was an outlier. If he hits around .270-.280 it would serve as a huge boost from last year, and he would be a great 5 hitter in the lineup.
And that’s right about where I have Rios’ stats for the year. I’ll give him a .272 batting average, 17 HR, and 79 RBI. If this is the case, he will be a great help for Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko hitting in front of him, as the opposing pitchers will have to make sure to throw them some good pitches instead of pitch around them.
With this lineup, most of what will happen this year will be a ripple effect. If Konerko remains consistent, Pierzynski and Dunn should have solid years. If those guys produce, Alex Rios will see good pitches and have better stats than in 2011. And so forth down through the order. While I’m not so sure about the lower part of the lineup, which I’ll discuss here in the next few days, I do think the middle of the order will be a force at more times than not.