Dodgers: Dave Roberts Not Ready to Send Edwin Rios Down… Yet
In a stretch of struggles for the Dodgers, one player seemingly has caught the most of the struggle bug. On the season, slugger Edwin Rios is batting .093 in 20 games this year. Even worse, he’s riding a 0-for-24 hitless streak with 9 strikeouts.
It’s safe to say that this is not the start of the 2021 season Eddie envisioned.
The narrative has been growing for the infielder — he needs to build some confidence and see some pitches. And that’s something that would be best done away from the big leagues, much like teammate Matt Beaty did last week.
Still, when asked whether Rios would benefit from some time in Arizona, Dave Roberts says he’s not there yet.
I’m not thinking about any type of moving Eddie. He’s working really hard with the hitting guys, in the weight room, making sure his body’s right, putting him in the right positions. … He’s hit major-league pitching so our expectation is that it’s going to turn.
Doc later added.
He’s scuffling. We’ll continue to monitor all of these guys. I think the goal is to give these guys the best chance to have success, and if a player is not having success and needs to find their way, we can have those discussions.
After his stint at the club’s alternate site in Arizona, Beaty has come back and made solid contact with the ball. Moreover, after collecting a big 2-run hit on Tuesday night, Matt spoke highly of his time away from the bigs.
Going down to the alt site was good for me to get some at-bats, get some confidence, put some balls in play hard and get back to what I do as a baseball player.
Related: Matt Beaty Needs to Get More Opportunities to Start
Dave Roberts has earned the trust of fans over his tenure as manager. Doc continues to praise Rios, offering that he is “more of the mind to continue to instill confidence” over demoting him to Camelback Ranch.
Notably, the minor league season still hasn’t started. The team is still playing scrimmage matches against some outside teams at the alternate site as opposed to the intrasquad work we saw in 2020. While it’s imperfect to send someone down to play scrimmage matches, it might still be better than to watch Eddie continue to flail and get further away from the success he experiences last year.
NEXT: Joe Kelly & Cody Bellinger, & what’s LA’s Bigger Concern, Offense or Bullpen?
All good points and I hope Rios can get back to raking. But in the meantime, he – and a few others – can’t be put in the position where they come up with runners in scoring position late in games or in extras. Strike outs with runners on second or third with less than two outs is killing the Dodgers when just putting a ball in play will likely mean a run.
He looks to be trying to hit home runs, not exactly the approach to end a lengthy slump. Coaches should be practicing with him to go against the shift, giving him the best odds of getting a hit and breaking the frustrating spell.
Not sending Rios to Camelback for 10 days to work on his hitting makes no sense. Look how well Beaty responded.
That’s Roberts for ya. And as rainbird says, it’s also not a good idea to see Rios batting with RISP with less than 2 out and see him continue to strike out in these key situations. He still looks completely lost at the dish and honestly it’s time for the manager to stop coddling these guys and make the moves necessary
How many automatic-outs will he, Barnes, the pitcher’s spot, Muncy(who’s struggling too) contribute?
In Barnes defense, and I knew this would be the case with him., but he’s not going to do as well with the bat hitting in front of the pitcher instead of batting 9th in front of Betts, who’s in the lead off spot. He obviously is not seeing as many hittable pitches with teams knowing the pitcher has to bat behind him. And without a DH, that’s the case.
I’m a big Rios fan, and he needs to get sent to alternate site, for what Beaty said. Hasn’t looked right from day one spring training.
Clint, good to see you are doing with Dodgers Nation. With covid 19 we got a championship and I got to retire early from Honda. Probably no more softball in the future for me or the team. Keep up the good work and let’s root for a repeat, with a full season. Best wishes, Mark Booher.
Thanks for the love, Booher. Good to hear from you!
The 7-8-and 9 hitters are giving them a 6 inning game! Not going to win many games with this pathetic lineup!
Send Rios to the alternate site. They have hitting instructors there too, as well as batting cages. Right now, he is lost at the plate.
Have you guys ever seen a team that has this many injuries? It appears lately that if any player has a bad outing,they mysteriously come up with a injury. Price get’s rocked, Oh it’s a hamstring. Graterol getting rocked, stiffness, Kelli, a Undisclosed illness or whatever. Guess it has nothing to do with the team pampering these guys like they’re newborns in a maternity ward. Letting them skate for spring training. This team is and was not ready for the start of this season including the medical staff. All we ever heard about was how this team was going to break all times wins records, and the dodgers can get by with all this debth etc. Over confident Roberts? When are they going to face up that Lux is a bust, Price is toast, and they never found a 2nd basemen or a right handed bat to replace kike’ .Their Triple A guys of Peters, Raley and Neuse are extremely impotent. This team is weaker at this point this season than last year. These problems will not go away until they address them. The Giants are here to stay,and the Padres already showed they’re a better team than the Dodgers.
All points well made here and why I also said earlier it was time for Roberts to stop the coddling of these players and make the necessary moves on this roster, which if course Freidman must now actually do.