Ackley and Power
Dave · August 6, 2010 at 8:25 am · Filed Under Mariners
My latest post for the Brock and Salk blog is now up, dealing with Dustin Ackley’s future power output. Check it out.
Also, posting will be light this for the next few days, as I’m in New York City for our FanGraphs Live Discussion. It’s hot here.
I would be overjoyed if Ackley turned into a Derek Jeter clone. (Well, minus the Yankee-fan-idolatry, of course.)
Assuming that Ackley makes the roster in 2011, where would he hit? Could he handle the #3 spot behind Ichiro and Figgins, or would that be too much pressure too early? Would you use the Michael Saunders method of letting him hit near the bottom of the lineup until he gets his feet wet?
Hot and humid… I’m in Queens for a conference :-). Have a great time at the FanGraphs event!
I know you don’t like to self advertise, but any chance we could get a “Find Dave here” section on the right with links to everywhere you write? In particular I find it hard to find your (admittedly somewhat remedial) WSJ work.
Hopefully Smoak emerges – he’s the only guy who really profiles as a classic #3 or #4 in the pipeline.
My guess is that’s what Wak would do. But I think there’s a decent chance he forces his way up sooner than later.
Dave, is Ackley a better prospect than Smoak? Whose future should we be more excited about?
Nice article Dave. If Ackley is the next ‘Brian Roberts’ I will be satisfied.
Agree, Smoak could be the #4, the lineup could be this in 2011:
3.DH Dunn/Branyan
4.Somak
5.Saunders/Ackley
Decent 3,4,5
Branyan may not be back next year. He has a 5M option that the M’s may not pick up. If he is healthy I would like to see him return, but it isn’t a guarantee. And Adam Dunn keep saying he doesn’t want to DH…….Either way this offseason is going to be packed with roster changes. And there is hope in the future, we just have to suffer through the present.
Pretty safe to say the Mariners aren’t going to pick up Branyan’s option. If he returns it will be under a new contract, likely for a lot less given his recent injury issues. Dunn is also likely to want more than the Mariners are willing to pay, especially with Bradley still on payroll.
If 2011 plays out the way we’re (mostly) all speculating, it might be hard to use that approach with Ackley simply because almost half our starting nine will be young guys – Saunders, Moore, Smoak, and Ackley. Moore’s older than the others, of course, but he’s pretty fresh-faced.
We already know Ichiro and Figgins are 1-2; Kotchman will be gone, Lopez will be gone. Guti will be up there somewhere. I can’t imagine Jack Wilson moving higher than 7th (but with Wak, ya never know..).
Also, I wonder if we’ll see a DH tandem of Branyan and Bradley?
They try so hard to bring you down.