Tag Archives: Dustin Ackley

Articles, Baseball

Mariners Hot Stove Review

by John Stewart

Mariners fans entered Game 162 of the 2014 campaign with as much excitement as we’ve had in a long time. Felix on the mound, a beautiful fall day, and the Ms in striking distance of their first playoff appearance in… well, a while. [Editor’s note: Please forgive John’s lack of specificity on this one. He resides in a country where they still use quarts, miles, pounds and Republican Senator Thad Cochran.]

King Felix was edged out by Corey Kluber for the American League Cy Young Award, but his performance in 2014 was nothing short of electric. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson nicked from oregonlive.com.)
King Felix was edged out by Corey Kluber for the American League Cy Young Award, but his performance in 2014 was nothing short of electric. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson nicked from oregonlive.com.)

Sadly, despite beating the Angels of Anaheim/California/etc., 4-1, the Mariners were eliminated when the Oakland Athletics won their game that same day. And so another Mariners season ended without a trip to the postseason. The Mariners finished 87-75, one lousy win short of that that bloody Wild Card spot.

Pucked in the Head baseball connoisseur and Hair Club for Men after picture model John Stewart loves him some Safeco Field. And why not? It's purty.
Pucked in the Head baseball connoisseur and Hair Club for Men after picture model John Stewart loves him some Safeco Field. And why not? It’s purty.

Yet for the first time in… a while [ahem]… there was a real sense of optimism at Safeco Field. With a league-low ERA of 3.17, Mariners pitching was generally outstanding, both in the rotation and out of the bullpen. The offense, again, was the weakest link, with later-season moves for Austin Jackson and Kendrys Morales proving to be insufficient to move the needle quite far enough. Still, being relevant on the last day of the season was a welcome change from the previous several years.

With attendance up, and some excitement building about beisbol (to be put on hold by many during NFL season, as the Seahawks mount an amazing run toward a second Super Bowl appearance in as many years), it was on to the Hot Stove League, aka the off-season. What did Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik have up his sleeve?

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Articles, Baseball

Offense? What’s That?

Dustin Ackley has been knocking the ball out of the park for the Mariners since the All-Star Break.
Dustin Ackley has been knocking the ball out of the park for the Mariners since the All-Star Break.

A resurgent Dustin Ackley is suddenly knocking balls over the fence with some regularity. Thursday the Mariners scored 13 runs.  No, this is not a misprint. THIRTEEN RUNS! It really happened, I swear.

It’s been pretty obvious since early in the season that while the defense is good, and the bullpen is good, and the starting rotation is even better than we thought (Chris Young! Who knew?) the Mariner offense is… not good. Yes, Robinson Cano is a great player, and Kyle Seager is underrated, and man can Mike Zunino pound the ball when he gets a piece of one, but…

OK, you say, so the Mariners picked up Austin Jackson and Chris Denorfia, and didn’t you write about that already? Why, yes, yes I did – but those two weren’t going to be enough. Kendrys Morales (yeah, I wrote about him too) wasn’t going to be enough, either. We really needed some other guys already on the roster to heat up at the plate for this playoff stretch run. Lo and behold, Dustin Ackley appears to be reading Pucked in the Head.

If you’ve been watching the Mariners for the last few years, you’re familiar with the seemingly endless string of players (Justin Smoak! Nick Franklin!) who were going to be the next big thing. Ackley came near the top of that list as a first-round draft pick in the 2009 amateur draft. The Mariners wanted Ackley at second base… and that didn’t work out real well. Then the Mariners put Ackley in the outfield… and while his defense has been improving, again not so much with the bats.

Until… well, until July, really. Dustin Ackley had a great July. Here are his slash lines before and after the All-Star Break:

Pre-All-Star-Break: .225/.282./335.
Post-All-StarBreak: .360/.368/.587.

Wow.

(Editor’s note: that slugging percentage is in-freaking-sane.)

Now, Ackley’s had good months before, and baseball is nothing if not a game of adjustments. It’s possible the pitchers figure him out over the rest of August and September and he falls apart. It’s also possible he continues hitting at something close to his current clip. Obviously Mariners fans would prefer the latter option.

With the White Sox at Safeco over the weekend and Felix starting on Monday, and the good guys coming off taking two from the Braves earlier in the week, now would be a great time for Ackley (and the rest of the Mariners offense) to keep hitting. As crazy as it sounds in these glorious Northwest summer days, we’re only 48 games from the end of the season. A few more baker’s dozens will go a long way to providing Seattle baseball this October.

Go Mariners.