Ackley Up Friday?

[revo]

CBS Sports:
According to rumblings from several sources, the Mariners may be considering recalling Dustin Ackley for the upcoming series against the Yankees beginning on Friday.
(Updated 05/25/2011).
Fantasy Analysis
Ackley is batting .268 at Triple-A Tacoma and is the Mariners' top prospect. He's been much better over his last 10 games, batting .318 over that span with two homers and seven RBI. With seven homers and 24 RBI on the season over 46 games for the Rainiers, Ackley does seem ready to make his major league debut. That said, this is just speculation for now. When he does come up, Ackley will be worth adding in AL-only and some deeper mixed Fantasy leagues.

[Hornsby]

CBS Sports:
According to rumblings from several sources, the Mariners may be considering recalling Dustin Ackley for the upcoming series against the Yankees beginning on Friday.
(Updated 05/25/2011).
Fantasy Analysis
Ackley is batting .268 at Triple-A Tacoma and is the Mariners' top prospect. He's been much better over his last 10 games, batting .318 over that span with two homers and seven RBI. With seven homers and 24 RBI on the season over 46 games for the Rainiers, Ackley does seem ready to make his major league debut. That said, this is just speculation for now. When he does come up, Ackley will be worth adding in AL-only and some deeper mixed Fantasy leagues.

I don't see why they'd do that at this point. Ackley is certainly not tearing it up at AAA, either in average or power, and Seattle is winning right now. I can see it later in the year, just to get him acclimated for the 2012 season, but coming up now just doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Bodhizefa]

I don't see why they'd do that at this point. Ackley is certainly not tearing it up at AAA, either in average or power, and Seattle is winning right now. I can see it later in the year, just to get him acclimated for the 2012 season, but coming up now just doesn't make a lot of sense.

They've won against two of the worst teams in baseball, and that obviously won't last. They need offense, Horns. It's not too difficult to see that. Ackley is going to help provide that.

[Weapon1]

Ackley's OPS with Tacoma is .823, which isn't world beating. Except in comparison to Jack Wilson's .557.

[Hornsby]

They've won against two of the worst teams in baseball, and that obviously won't last. They need offense, Horns. It's not too difficult to see that. Ackley is going to help provide that.

Except Ackley isn't going to provide that offense...as Weapon1 already stated, his OPS is a piddling .823 in a hitters league. He's also hitting .268, and hasn't ever hit higher than .274 in his minor league stops. He's showing little power as well, maybe he'll never develop power. It'd be different if he was Mike Stanton, tearing the cover off the ball and showing prodigious power, but he's not. Better to leave him down there to get his game together and get some confidence.

At this point, I'd advise the M's to follow the Royals play with their kids...let them get to a league, acclimate, and then dominate. Once that happens, move them along. Tampa has a similar idea, but they always forget that part where they're supposed to promote the kid to the bigs.

[cardboardbox]

Ackley was pushed very aggressively by starting his pro career at AA and predictably he did poorly at first. Just as he was starting to figure things out at AA he was promoted to AAA. So I dont put much weight in his career minor league numbers although I dont think he's going to be any better than an average hitter for a while in the majors. More troubling from a fantasy pov is his total lack of SB. I remember a few years ago Law saying Ackley had very good speed and would rack up big SB numbers.

[Bodhizefa]

Except Ackley isn't going to provide that offense...as Weapon1 already stated, his OPS is a piddling .823 in a hitters league. He's also hitting .268, and hasn't ever hit higher than .274 in his minor league stops. He's showing little power as well, maybe he'll never develop power. It'd be different if he was Mike Stanton, tearing the cover off the ball and showing prodigious power, but he's not. Better to leave him down there to get his game together and get some confidence.

At this point, I'd advise the M's to follow the Royals play with their kids...let them get to a league, acclimate, and then dominate. Once that happens, move them along. Tampa has a similar idea, but they always forget that part where they're supposed to promote the kid to the bigs.

I guess you missed the part where he has a 1.031 OPS in May? And it's not like that was a product of just a week's worth of lighting it up either as he's been hitting at that clip nearly all month long (he's had a 1.010 OPS in the last 10 days, for example). Do you know why his batting average was so low in April? He was hitting everything hard but it was right at people. It's not like he was over-matched or anything. And to say he's showing little power seems kindof silly to me, too, as he's on pace for around 20 homeruns in 600 at bats. If you were expecting him to be a big power hitter, you'll be sorely disappointed. But he definitely has pop, and he's showing it this year, too.

Look, I'm not saying he's going to be a savior and come in and smash his way to a 1.000 OPS in the big leagues, but you're doing him a pretty severe disservice by brushing him off without even thinking he's got a lot of hitting ability to offer. He's a good hitter with a very good approach (he walks lots), and those type of players generally provide some help in the big leagues for their club, young or no.

At this point, he'd be a massive improvement over Figgins' .500 OPS level of production as the M's could slide Adam Kennedy to third base and bench Figgins for however long it takes to get his head screwed on straight. I think you could probably expect something like a .265/.350/.385 from Ackley initially, with obvious upside in both walks and slugging. He's pretty fast but doesn't really know his way around base thieving just yet, so a modest handful of steals at first might not be a bad projection. I think for 2012 he has a good chance at a .280/.380/.420 line with double digit homeruns along with 8-12 steals, and in his prime you might see him flirt with some .900 OPS seasons.

[Bodhizefa]

And this is from Keith Law's chat yesterday:

Mike (Seattle)


Is the Dustin Ackley era gonna start soon? What sort of ceiling do you see with his power numbers?
Klaw
(5:12 PM)


Very soon - been on fire the last few weeks, .326/.425/.579 in May. 15-20 HR ceiling. Wondering if they'll leave him at second or maybe push him to left field.

[cardboardbox]

ugh, that bat doesnt play in LF.

[Hornsby]

I guess you missed the part where he has a 1.031 OPS in May? And it's not like that was a product of just a week's worth of lighting it up either as he's been hitting at that clip nearly all month long (he's had a 1.010 OPS in the last 10 days, for example). Do you know why his batting average was so low in April? He was hitting everything hard but it was right at people. It's not like he was over-matched or anything. And to say he's showing little power seems kindof silly to me, too, as he's on pace for around 20 homeruns in 600 at bats. If you were expecting him to be a big power hitter, you'll be sorely disappointed. But he definitely has pop, and he's showing it this year, too.

Look, I'm not saying he's going to be a savior and come in and smash his way to a 1.000 OPS in the big leagues, but you're doing him a pretty severe disservice by brushing him off without even thinking he's got a lot of hitting ability to offer. He's a good hitter with a very good approach (he walks lots), and those type of players generally provide some help in the big leagues for their club, young or no.

At this point, he'd be a massive improvement over Figgins' .500 OPS level of production as the M's could slide Adam Kennedy to third base and bench Figgins for however long it takes to get his head screwed on straight. I think you could probably expect something like a .265/.350/.385 from Ackley initially, with obvious upside in both walks and slugging. He's pretty fast but doesn't really know his way around base thieving just yet, so a modest handful of steals at first might not be a bad projection. I think for 2012 he has a good chance at a .280/.380/.420 line with double digit homeruns along with 8-12 steals, and in his prime you might see him flirt with some .900 OPS seasons.

Wow...he's had a three week stretch where he's actually hit like he's supposed to, I'm impressed.

Look, I know that he's got a fine pedigree from college, but the point remains that he's simply not done it in the minors. Until he does so for a consistent period of time (longer than a few weeks), Ackley would be much better off staying in AAA and building his confidence. And 20 HR's in a full season in the PCL isn't much to brag about, now is it? What would that translate to in Safeco? Half of that? Less?

I'm a believer in Ackley, I just dealt for him in my main league...but I also am a realist and like to see a guy dominate a league before he's promoted. And Ackley has yet to do that as a pro. And it's monumentally unlikely that the M's stay in the race, so shuffling the infield like you suggest isn't going to do much to help the offense, especially if Ackley struggles as his history suggests that he will.

[revo]

So where's this Ackley guy?

[revo]

So where's this Ackley guy?

Lowest crowd in Safeco history tonight: just 11,000 or so. This team is ONE game out of first!! WTF?? Oh yeah.....baseball fans don't like pitching+defense.

[Bodhizefa]

A part of me wonders if this turns into another Prior vs. Mauer situation where the obviously amazingly talented pitcher ends up not being as valuable as the very good hitter simply due to attrition. My oh my, I'm in love with Dustin Ackley.

[revo]

A part of me wonders if this turns into another Prior vs. Mauer situation where the obviously amazingly talented pitcher ends up not being as valuable as the very good hitter simply due to attrition. My oh my, I'm in love with Dustin Ackley.

He's been fantastic. So as an M's fan, are you PO'd that they waited until June to recall him, obviously over the Super-2 status?

[Bodhizefa]

He's been fantastic. So as an M's fan, are you PO'd that they waited until June to recall him, obviously over the Super-2 status?

I don't think he was ready earlier in the year, so I'm fine with it. I'm just glad we have him now. He is the #1 reason I watch the games at this point. He's their best hitter by a pretty good margin, in my opinion. I think he could slot in nicely in the #3 spot in the line-up if Wedge would take the veteran goggles off for a minute.