Sophomore slumping? How worried should we be about Will Middlebrooks?

Will Middlebrooks started off the season extremely hot, the peak of this coming in a 3 home run game against Toronto in the first week. Since then Middlebrooks has taken a complete 180 at the plate, going from one of the hottest hitters in baseball to one of the coldest. After the 3 home run game Middlebrooks was hitting .320 on the year, after last night he is hitting .182, .018 points below the Mendoza line. In the last 8 games he has had 30 at bats, getting a hit in only 2, an atrocious .066 batting average.
Middlebrooks slump isnt just in the last week either, he has been slumping since last July hitting .165 and striking out in 26% of his plate appearances. Middlebrooks has had only 86 plate appearances since July, an extremely small sample size to judge him upon but it is still troublesome. This is not good news for what looks to be the future slugger of the Boston Red Sox, so what could be happening to him?
Pitchers are starting to figure out how to pitch around Middlebrooks. He excels in pitches that are up in the zone, so pitchers are starting to avoid that area of the strike zone. Middlebrooks must adapt his hitting style and be able to hit a pitch anywhere in the strike zone. A successful hitter is able to hit any pitch, an excellent example of this is Vladimir Guerrero who could hit almost any pitch throw at him out of the park.
Middlebrooks also was injured last season, he went through rehabilitation to get his injury back to 100%. Could Middlebrooks have re-hurt himself in his 3 home run game? If he had he hasn't told anyone about this yet and could be seriously hurting the team. If he is hurt it is best for him to get treatment early on so that he doesn't make it even worse off.
Middlebrooks could be uncomfortable with his spot in the lineup. He is currently hitting in the 6 spot in the lineup typically hitting after either Nava or Napoli and hitting before Saltalamacchia. David Ortiz not being in the lineup could be effecting Middlebrooks, Ortiz provides a sense of offensive security to the rest of the lineup. With Ortiz not being in the lineup yet this season it could be effecting Middlebrooks. If this is the case then it could change shortly with Ortiz most likely being called up during the teams upcoming home stand.
Will Middlebrooks is in a slump and the team needs him to get out of it quickly. If this keeps up for much longer Middlebrooks may be looking at a stint on the bench and Pedro Ciriaco playing 3B. What do you guys think about the rough 2 weeks that Middlebrooks has been having, is it just a slump or it this a theme for the season? Let me know what your opinions on this topic in the comments section below or on twitter @Ryanthahawaiian.

Quick update, the Red Sox just released their lineup for today and Ciriaco will be playing third and hitting 9th tonight. Middlebrooks will spend the night on the bench.