| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 05-13-2011 |
I get 25 questions a day asking me about Dustin Ackley. "When will he be called up?" "Why can't he hit left-handers?" "He's hitting .224, what is the deal?"
Let's answer those and more in quick fashion.
Ackley started off slow, similar to last season, but has turned it up a notch of late -- just as he did in May of 2010. But it's been a better year for the former No. 2 overall pick.
He's hitting for more power -- five homers and seven doubles in 35 games -- than he did a year ago when he didn't get his 12th extra-base hit until May 27 and didn't reach five home runs until August 13 after he'd been promoted to Tacoma from Double-A.
No, his overall numbers don't look great, but I'm as confident in his future as I have ever been, thanks to a .319/.450/.596 May so far and a .316/.449/.632 line over his past 10 games. In that 10-game stretch he's walked 10 times and fanned five, stolen two bases and tallied six extra-base hits, three of them long balls. And all three of those homers and four of his five for the year have come at home in the cold weather at Cheney Stadium, rather than in the warm-aired bandboxes in Reno, Las Vegas, Tucson and in many other parks in the PCL.
Ackley enters play Friday with a .246/.376/.401 line and a split of .243/.420/.405 against left-handed pitching, including six hits in his last 14 at-bats with four walks, four strikeouts and two extra-bases hits, one a homer.
In general, Ackley is better today than he was April 13, and significantly better versus left-handers of late, perhaps a sign that he's ready for an everyday job in the big leagues.
He'll probably have to wait at least 10 days and up to a month to get that call, but when he does he'll be coming off a pretty strong recent trend.
A scout asked me on the last homestand whether I had noticed Ackley leaking his front foot toward first base versus both lefties and righties. I had not. The scout wondered if it was just a few hitters or a legitimate problem.
So the rest of the game I watched for it. Not only did Ackley stay back, but he exploded on a fastball middle-in for a grand slam a few at-bats later. That's something he wouldn't have been able to do if he was drifting early and away from the flight of the ball.
So, in summary, Ackley has shaken the early-season slump, is making consistent contact and working counts for walks and pitches to hit -- 30 walks, 23 strikeouts -- and is starting to show real production against left-handed pitching while showing more overall power.
I'd say he's ready, at least offensively. He'll be a work-in-progress for a few years at second base in the big leagues but he's serviceable now and Jack Wilson should probably watch his back.
notes-on-dustin-ackley
Comments
The following 22 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: masonb on 05-13-2011 15:45:48 Great writeup Jason. Thanks. |
| 2. By: dawgncarolina on 05-13-2011 15:58:15 Great report Jason. I've been tracking his hot streak in the box scores, but hadn't noticed how well he's been doing versus lefties. VERY encouraging. Great stuff. |
| 3. By: short on 05-13-2011 16:24:25 The current M's plus Ackley and Gutierrez (who could theoretically be joining the team about the same time it sounds like) are so much more interesting than they are now. Wilson and Peguero aren't doing much to impress thus far, and I wouldn't be surprised if both are gone when the aforementioned players are brought up. Jason, who would you drop when Ackley and Guti come up? Is Jack Wilson tradeable? Milwaukee is trying to contend with Yuniesky Betancourt at SS right now, so... |
| 4. By: Edman on 05-13-2011 16:39:28 Wow short, you mean in the limited number of at bats, Wilson and Peguero in a couple at bats? Let's get rid of them now, why waste more ABs on them? Really, that's kind of a shallow statement. On a team with so much suck that the Nicorette suck-o-meter would explode, you're ready to judge based on a combined 25 ABs between the two of them? I thought Mike Wilsons throw to home the other night was pretty damn exciting. Hey, how about we give them both some ABs, before we run them out of town? |
| 5. By: short on 05-13-2011 17:12:52 Two words from my comment you might want to focus on: "thus" and "far." We have at least another week for the two newcomers to show us something other than replacement-level play. Wilson has SO FAR been missing the kinds of balls he's supposed to hit out of the park: low-90's fastballs in the middle of the plate. Peguero is even worse. So far. The point is that knowing everything we know about all of the players on this team, who should go when Ackley and Guti come back? Saunders? Better D than either of the new guys by far. Jack Wilson? He's still owed a lot of money and is actually a useful player. The two new guys will need to start contributing, IMO, or one or both will return to AAA. There's a reason they've only be brought up as a result of unforseen circumstances. They need to change the organization's opinion of them. I wonder if Kennedy might be the odd man out when Ackley joins. As a left-handed middle infielder his skillset most closely matches Ackley's. Then Jack Wilson becomes the bench MI. |
| 6. By: Edman on 05-13-2011 17:57:26 Whatever, short. When Guti comes back, Saunders shouldn't be given any extra credit for his defense. Why? Because, it's a lack of offense that's hurting this team, more so than defense in the outfield. That said, neither Wilson THUS FAR are outplaying Saunders. So, logically, it's between Wilson and Peguero. As for Ackley, I could care less at this point. There's no reason to promote him to Seattle until service time is no longer an issue. I'd rather he spend time learning in Tacoma. If they brought him up when the rosters expand in September, I wouldn't be upset. I would rather they promote him because he's ready, than because every middle infielder on the MLB roster sucks. I'm excited to see him play, but it has to make sense. |
| 7. By: Jason A. Churchill on 05-13-2011 19:02:56 Since Luis Rodriguez has been the second shortstop lately, I'm of the belief that Jack Wilson is the top name in line to go once Ackley comes up. |
| 8. By: Jason A. Churchill on 05-13-2011 19:35:31 No, Edman, it's between Saunders and Peguero. And to send Saunders out anytime soon is giving up on him and the start of a new project in Peguero, and also a waste of the investment they have made in Saunders thus far. |
| 9. By: Edman on 05-13-2011 20:40:10 At what point do you consider that you've lost your investment? If your stock continues to fall, do you continue to ride it out, even if it shows no apparent return on investment, or do you reinvest it in another option? Because time has been invested, doesn't mean that time well spent. I'd love nothing more than for Saunders to succeed. But his improved swing hasn't netted any returns. And, he continues to struggle with pitch recognition. |
| 10. By: micahjr on 05-13-2011 21:05:32 If nothing else Saunder's is a 4th outfielder who can play every outfield position, that makes him immediately more valuable than Peguero or Mike Wilson. Guti will also not be 100% when he comes back, so ditching Saunders at that point in favor of a left field only player would be a special kind of insanity reserved for long rambling posts on Prospect Insider. |
| 11. By: short on 05-13-2011 23:21:17 I think today showed everything we need to know about Peguero. He's a young, raw talent with potential who is going to cost you games until he gets some more experience. I like him but I'd like to keep Saunders and Mike Wilson in the outfield when Gutierrez comes back. And I don't care if they grind any of Jack Wilson, Adam Kennedy or Luis Rodriguez into a nutritive slurry to feed to Dustin Ackley and give him strength. Just bring him up soon, please, and make this team more watchable. |
| 12. By: bodhizefa on 05-13-2011 23:22:55 Thanks for the update on Ackley, Jason. His box scores of late have been dynamite, and it's good to hear from you that he's just about ready. On another note, given our bullpen's total implosion of late, is there anyone outside of Lueke/Cortes that we can wish on in hopes of coming up by mid-season to help our pen out? What arms have a chance of being called up by year's end that could solidify the back end of our bullpen? Anyone? |
| 13. By: Jason A. Churchill on 05-13-2011 23:24:12 Edman, it's not like Matt Holliday is out there to take Saunders' place. Peguero is WORSE than Saunders in so many ways. It'd be starting over with the same chance of success as when Saunders started his big-league stint last year. If they were moving Ackley to LF, Saunders would be the candidate to get sent down, because, yeah, that's a no-brainer. But you don't give up on Saunders for Carlos Peguero or Mike Wilson. Not in 2011. |
| 14. By: davelee99 on 05-14-2011 12:50:20 There was an article in USA Today a day or two ago about Michael Pineda. Very complimentary but it also contained this about Felix; "The formidable Hernandez-Pineda combination already has half of the team's 16 victories. Hernandez turned 25 in April. So it's obvious where the Mariners can find a foundation for climbing out of the AL West basement. "That would be good," says Hernandez, who doesn't exactly endorse the long-term plan. "Me, I do my own thing. I've got three more years here (before he can be a free agent)." Ominous words, I think. Perhaps our pitching staff isn't going to be as solid as we thought. |
| 15. By: Jerry on 05-14-2011 13:05:45 Why are we talking about giving up on Saunders? The M's aren't contending. They need to give him a long audition and do everything they can to help him adjust to the big leagues. Lots of players struggle after making the jump from AAA. And making any sort of judgement on Peguero and Wilson in such a small sample is just stupid. Peguero could be a legit option, but he could use more time in AAA. There is absolutely no need to make definitive decisions now. Having Peguero as a Plan B is great. But they don't need to use that option until Saunders shows he is not a legit option. Going forward, I still think the most likely scenario, and the one that makes the most sense, is simply trade or release Wilson and/or Kennedy in July, and send down Peguero when Guti is back. Thus, the second half lineup would look something like this: Ichiro RF Figgins 3B Smoak 1B Cust DH Gutierrez CF Ackley 2B Olivo C Saunders LF Ryan SS Bench: Wilson, Gimenez, Rodriguez, Kennedy If Saunders continues to struggle, they could send him to AAA to sort himself out. But I hope they make decisions based on his long term best interests. The last thing the M's need to do now is give up on a promising young player. We don't need another Shin-Soo Choo situation. |
| 16. By: maqman on 05-14-2011 13:15:38 Thanks for the good update on Ackley Jason. It's nice to see him pick it up again. I get that he needs to learn his position better but the team is starved for offense and in need of something to entertain their audience so I say bring him up when his service time ceases to be an issue. I agree that Saunders should be retained and given the rest of this season to show what he's got. Whoever is removed from the local Mendoza chapter makes no never mind. |
| 17. By: rocketdawg31 on 05-14-2011 14:21:02 "That would be good," says Hernandez, who doesn't exactly endorse the long-term plan. "Me, I do my own thing. I've got three more years here (before he can be a free agent)." Ominous words, I think. Perhaps our pitching staff isn't going to be as solid as we thought. When we start winning, the talk won't be so ominous. We just have to get to the good days, is all. He's keeping his options on his future outlook open, like any sane professional would. And if we can't get to the point where we're a legit contender in three more years time, I wouldn't blame him for casting any longing stares anywhere else. |
| 18. By: davelee99 on 05-14-2011 15:28:01 The problem, though, is that the Mariners really don't have three years to resign or trade Felix. If they are convinced he wants to test free agency, the best move for the Mariners is to trade him the year before his contract is up. His trade value in his last year would be greatly reduced. Think the Mariners will be competitive in time? |
| 19. By: KingFelix on 05-14-2011 16:58:07 We still got a nice package for Cliff Lee for half a season. I would keep Felix for 2012 and 2013 and see if we are not contending by 2013 then we could take offers in the offseason of 2013 if we are not contending. |
| 20. By: dewey on 05-14-2011 17:16:08 The curse of Milton Bradley we havent won since he was released !..lol unreal the gift that keeps giving |
| 21. By: SoCalMsFan on 05-15-2011 12:45:22 Any possibility of the mariners getting anything back for Jack Wilson or is that a pipe dream? |
| 22. By: Edman on 05-16-2011 18:05:13 Jerry, before we start the Choo comparisons, consider that the M's gave him 29 ABs before giving up, if you wish to call it that. Saunders has had 522 ABs. In those ABs, just when has he done anything that remotely looks like Choo redux? Choo was showing promise long before he reached 500 ABs. If Saunders showed any sustained productivity anywhere in those 522 ABs, I'd be more inclined to believe in him. But, his time is running out. Keeping him on the roster because he is the least sucky and might get better, won't cut it for the average fan. And, those average fans are paying the toll when they enter the stadium. It gets hard for any fan, knowledgable or not, to look at continued failure. |
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