Rios looking to improve his power
01/13/2006Toronto wants to win now. That's the obvious explanation for the wave of deals that have involved the Blue Jays this offseason.
So how long is Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi willing to wait for a young player like Alex Rios to finally come along? A little longer.
Rios struggled at the plate this winter playing for the Caguas Criollos in Puerto Rico. He limped through the regular-season schedule and barely got a chance to help this week in the Puerto Rican League playoffs. Despite his woes this winter, though, Toronto is ready to send Rios back to right field as the starter come Opening Day.
"This is an important year for him in a lot of ways. More importantly, we need him," Ricciardi said earlier this week. "We need him to step up and have a good year and fulfill some of the potential he has. He has to play."
The 6-foot-5 outfielder has been tagged as a future home run threat. Through 257 big-league games, though, Rios has only cleared the fence 11 times -- 10 of those came last season. Ricciardi is quick to note that progress.
"I think the positive side is he went from one home run to 10 home runs," Ricciardi said. "I think some of that potential came out last year and he made some strides with [hitting coach] Mickey Brantley. It's a lot of work and a lot of effort, and the big leagues aren't easy. But he's been willing to work and he's a guy that we have a lot of faith in."
When Rios was at his best in 2005, he was working with Brantley on getting his front foot down faster when striding toward the pitch. That enabled Rios to see pitches out in front of the plate easier and allowed the 25-year-old to jump on the ball with more power.
He did show some signs of carrying that technique over to Puerto Rico by launching four homers and 11 RBIs in 19 games. But Rios posted a .229 batting average and .291 on-base percentage.
"He won the MVP in that league a couple years ago, so it's hard to say what the validity [was] on that," Ricciardi said.
In a five-game semifinals loss to Carolina this week, Rios appeared in only one game. He went 1-for-4 with one run scored.
Toronto farmhand Migel Negron received a little more playing time with Caguas than Rios. Negron appeared in four of the semifinal games, but the 23-year-old outfielder hit just .125 (1-for-8) with one run scored. He finished the regular season in Puerto Rico hitting .240 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 32 games.
In the Mexican Pacific League, pitcher Spike Lundberg has been carrying Guasave through the playoffs. Lundberg, 29, signed a Minor League contract with Toronto in November 2004 that included an invitation to attend '05 Spring Training with the big-league club. He made only two appearances that spring before being reassigned to Triple-A Syracuse, where he worked primarily out of the bullpen. It was his ninth season in the Minors.
Lundberg has shined as a starter this winter, though. During the playoffs with Guasave, the right-hander has gone 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA in four appearances through Jan. 11. He won two games in the first round and picked up the series-clinching save in Game 6 against Mochis. Lundberg kept his hot hand going in the semifinals with a complete-game shutout win in the first game against Hermosilla.
In the regular season, Lundberg went 9-3 with a 2.23 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 13 starts. Lundberg also had three complete games and pitched 92 2/3 innings. He ranked first in the league in wins and ERA, finished second in strikeouts and complete games, and he ranked third in innings.
Lundberg was 8-6 with a 3.95 ERA in 50 games for Syracuse in '05. Only three of those appearances came as a starter.
Infielder Kevin Barker, who is one of two Minor League infielders to have already received an invitation to attend Spring Training with Toronto, has been helping Guasave this winter, too.
Barker, 30, is hitting .313 (10-for-32) with a homer and six RBIs in the playoffs. In the regular season, he had a .271 average with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs in 63 games for Guasave.
Source: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/
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