A Schelling For Your Thoughts

Stance adjustment pays off for Rios

By Jordan Schelling / MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS — A change in the positioning of his hands may have contributed to White Sox center fielder Alex Rios’ three-hit game on Saturday night.Rios started for the first time since Wednesday, and he picked up a double, two singles and a stolen base. Recently, Rios has moved his hands higher, and on Saturday he changed where he held the bat prior to the pitch.

Instead of holding the bat more vertically, Rios moved it down to rest on his shoulder until the pitcher began his delivery. While one game is not enough to say if the change made the difference, Rios had his best game at the plate since late June, when he went 3-for-4 against the Nationals.

“I hope he keeps swinging the bat like that, we need it,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. “I don’t know what he did, I never asked him what he did. I told him the other day to raise himself up. I don’t know if it was that, but the last couple days, he’s swung the bat better.”

Rios continued to produce in Sunday’s 7-0 victory, going 2-for-4 with a double, homer and two RBIs.

Struggling Dunn sits against Twins lefty

MINNEAPOLIS — With the Twins starting lefty Brian Duensing on Sunday, White Sox designated Adam Dunn got a day off, his first in two weeks. Manager Ozzie Guillen said he may give Dunn another day off later on the road trip as well.

After picking up a few hits against the Yankees, Dunn went 0-for-7 in the first two games of the series against the Twins, with two walks, three strikeouts and a run scored.

“He’s struggling so much right now. Hopefully, with a little break we give him, we can get something better out of him,” Guillen said. “He was swinging the bat a little bit better in Chicago, but the last couple days he lost it.”

Dunn has just 54 hits in 331 at-bats and a .163 average to go along with a .294 on-base percentage, and he’s slugging just .302. His struggles drew national attention on Thursday when Stephen Colbert joked about Dunn threatening Bill Bergen’s record-low batting average of .139.

While his continued struggles could likely be affecting Dunn’s confidence at the plate, which would only compound the issue, Guillen thinks it’s more frustrating than anything for Dunn right now.

“I think mentally, he should be very exhausted,” Guillen said. “He’s missing pitches. He’s missing fastballs, he’s missing changeups, he’s missing breaking balls, guessing wrong pitches. Everything has piled up, one thing after another.”

With two months left in the season, it’s unlikely Dunn will be able to improve his poor offensive numbers. But Guillen hopes that Dunn will learn from this season and come back better prepared and in better shape for the 2012 season.

“He has to stay in shape now, he’s not 22 years old anymore,” Guillen said. “Now he has to learn that he has to prepare himself better. That happens to everyone. That happened to [Paul Konerko], that happened to [Mark] Buehrle.”

Brent Lillibridge started at first base in Sunday’s 7-0 victory and went 2-for-4 with a homer, his second in two games.

Stewart an option for rotation, bullpen

MINNEAPOLIS — Ozzie Guillen has not decided yet, but the White Sox manager said he’s leaning toward giving Zach Stewart another before putting him in the bullpen.

Stewart would likely pitch on Friday, if he did start again, but he could be needed out of the bullpen before then, which would be the most likely thing keeping Stewart from making a second start.

“I’m thinking, personally, we should keep him and give those guys six days,” Guillen said. “I don’t know yet, but … I have to know in the next couple days because I have to know exactly who I’m going to have in the bullpen and how I’m going to use them.”

Stewart allowed just one run on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings Saturday night in in a 6-1 victory to pick up his first Major League win.

While it remains a possibility that Stewart could start against the Royals, the right-hander would not start again the next time through the rotation, because the White Sox have off-days on Aug. 15 and Aug. 22, and using a six-man rotation through that stretch would give everyone too much time between starts.

Guillen said he would talk to White Sox general manager Ken Williams before making a decision on when Stewart would pitch next.

Jordan Schelling is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.