Answers on Rios & Hill

Jordan Bastien, who writes for the Blue Jays' site took a couple of questions today regarding Alex Rios' power outage and Aaron Hill's status. I've been waiting for both of these subjects to come up. On Rios and the idea that last year's home run derby ruined his power stroke:

It's hard for me to believe that professional hitters can have their swings forever altered by one night of swinging for the fences. Statistics can be skewed to back up most arguments and this is no exception.

Consider that Philadelphia's Ryan Howard won the Home Run Derby in 2006 and finished with 58 homers that season. The big lefty then went on to launch 47 long balls the following year and Howard currently leads the Major Leagues with 29 home runs. Apparently, he was immune to the problem.

I agree with him that last year's home run derby likely could not alter a professional player's swing enough to stop him from hitting the long ball. Rios might only have a handful of home runs this year, but how could the derby ruin his power ability?

On Hill:

I can tell you that Hill's situation is one that the Blue Jays are definitely worried about. The second baseman was struck on the side of the head during a collision with shortstop David Eckstein on May 29 and Hill has been battling post-concussion syndrome ever since.

Hill is currently rehabbing in Florida, though he's still only able to take part in very light activities. On Saturday, Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said no one has told him anything to believe that Hill's career could be in jeopardy, but the team isn't dismissing the thought that the second baseman might be done for the year.

Hill's injury recovery is very slow and has to raise a few red flags.