...and that is in his stance before the pitch arrives...in the slump photo he has a completely closed stance...front foot slightly closer to the plate than back foot...in the good swing...he starts with a slightly open stance. Does anyone else see that? What we do see with Saunders is that his K rate has gone up despite not swinging and missing more and despite having a decent zone swing and out of zone swing rate. That would suggest that the problem is his timing...he's choosing the right pitches to swing at...but is juuuuust a bit off when he does swing...and they've getting him in between. Could the stance note I mentioned cause that?

Carp's shoulder injury ruined his entire year last year. Saunders looks as if he's on the same course. If that happens, I hope GMZ (or more likely, his replacement) doesn't throw Saunders away for a bag of balls in the off season.

Here's my less-than-valuable contribution:
1. The two swings pictures are against pitchers throwing from the opposite sides. That could account for some difference.
2. On the June follow-through, observe the left knee. It is quite bent. On the homer swing it appears his left leg straightens. I think that might indicate that his slumpy approach is more arm-ey than before. It almost looks like he's hitting a "3/4" shot in golf. Maybe he just got fooled on that swing, but he has rotated less than the tater swing, and appears more arm-ey, with less acceleration.
4. I wonder if he has over-cooked the "ki" idea, Doc. You allude to this in your last statement. It is almost as if he's doing too much of a good thing and is trying to hit soft liners to the left of 2B. The correction would be to try and punish the wall in the CF-RF gap. More acceleration, more hammer.
5. In golf, when you are slicing the ball, the fix is often to try to hook it off the planet. On the driving range, anyway. Exagerate the fix. Change the "feel." Tour-type golfers do this in their pre-shot swings, too. Both Tiger Woods and Corey Pavin commonly make exagerated swing-fixes in their pre-shot 1/4-speed practice swing. I think I would encourage Saunders in BP to hit homers over the RF fence. Golfers expect that today's fix may be tomorrow's problem. Really. I think Saunders is in that boat. It's almost as if has determined to fix this slump by taking too much of his own medicine. That is something no doc, especially our Doc, would ever prescribe.
5. Michael, be a little less Ichiro and a little more Junior and all will be well.
moe

Now stay fixed

I truly appreciate the Aiki-Doc evaluations when they come down the pike. "Focus your ki left," is a terrifically simple and easily envisioned bit of advice. The best golf lesons are exactly the same thing. Simple, tactile, easily "visioned."
"Finish high," "Finish left," "Hold the finish," "Hit it hard," "Waltz-tempo," "Full backswing," etc, are all much better and more effective lessons than "Drop your elbow into the slot," or "cock your wrists." Those in the first list simply ask you to do something that has a visual aspect, the others are manipulative in nature.
I long ago, when I used to compete, realized that the more simple I made stuff the more easily I could find it when lost. I actually played really well for a while just trying to imagine the plasma gun thing in Star Wars or Starship Trooper, I forget which. Mike "Radar" Reid, who was a multiple time winner on the tour putted terrifically for years trying to imagine he was putting down two rows of singing green worms. True, dat.
I took lessons from a dozen pros. But only one guy had any impact. Mostly he would watch me hit a few shots and tell me "I can't help that," and walk away. Man does that give you confidence. Or he would tell me go slow. Something weirdly simple like that. (I went to a sports psychologist for a while. We spent the whole first lesson talking about what was wrong with my life: Was I a good husband, etc. He figured that bad life carried into bad golf.)
The pros who didn't help me asked me to tweak my elbow or open the clubface, manipulative stuff.
I wasn't physically talented, and certainly not very long, but by keeping things simple I always had a bandaid for something wrong.
When I practice chipping I usually just try to swish 'em into the hole on the practice green. That's my thought, "Swish!" My body will figure out the rest.
I think most 18 Handicappers, and most golf teaching, focus on something manipulative and rarely on something able to be visioned. And usually it is two or three things at once.
Just today I listened to a pro try to help a 15 or 16 Handicapper. He had him concentrating on alignment AND swing path AND release. All of 'em.
The guy was still lost.
If you could get a bogey golfer to focus on one simple thing until he owned it...then move to the next simple, non-manipulative/non-mechanical thing, you would much more efficiently improve their game.
"Be the ball" is overly simple. But not by that much.
IMHO, of course. Which ain't worth much.
The teachings of Aiki-Doc are simple and visual things. They are potent things.
moe

The Swing Zone on the top is Michael Saunders during his slump, and even without seeing a lot of these you can tell he has excellent strike zone judgement, and that he swings at slightly fewer out of zone balls than the guy on the bottom during the same period.  The guy on the bottom is Joey Votto.  From May 5 to June 18, he ran a .422 OBP.  I agree Doc, Michael Saunders hasn't looked like he should be OPSing in the .400s for a month.

With apologies, I'll retreat to my golf background again. Almost every great putter had a slightly open to more open stance. Arnie Palmer and Bobby Locke might be the exceptions (and Palmer eventually lost his putting stroke). Nicklaus, Jones, Watson, Crenshaw, Trevino, Woods all putt/putted from an open stance. Nicklaus and George Low (regarded by some as the best putter ever) both wrote that such a stance allows you to "see" the line better. As your feet and hips open, your shoulders do, as well. That allows your head to slightly open and you get a better "view" of the line with your "back" eye (furthest from the target). You can easily simulate this by standing up at your computer and opening and closing your stance. You'll see what I mean. I've long wondered if the same is true in batting stances. Go ahead, stand there and try it. With a closed stance, if you then shut your "forward" eye, you may have a problem even seeing the imaginary pitching mound. With an open stance that is much more unlikely. Go ahead. Humor me and give it a try.
So if Saunders has closed it up, the issue may be visual. Picking the ball, and its spin, must be more difficult if you do it (initially) out of only one eye.
I've thought about this. Really. I have no life! :)
Of course, we're only looking at one picture, but I'm sure there are physiological-vision things that may come with closing your stance.
moe