He started the AFL slowly too. He came around by the end. There his problem was not getting to play every day, so it was messing with his rhythm.
I dunno what his problem is right now, but I'm not especially worried about it. When a kid is that talented, he'll get the bat on the ball eventually. Week-long slumps early in the season scare us as fans, but there are a lot of ABs to go. These things are barely noticeable later in the season, except as a footnote. "Oh, he's 2-for-his-last-18? Guess his BA has dropped a coupla points..."
Ackley's never gone through Spring Training before - if it put him out of his rhythm, then that's perfectly understandable.
He's gonna uncork a 4-for-4 day here shortly that'll move his BA to .260-whatever in a day. It's just a small slump. Save the worrying til he's still batting .091 in May. ;)
~G
Is it too early to worry about Ackley's start with an 091 batting average? I have been following this kid since high school and I have never seen him start this low.
Will the move to second base slow his development?
JH
Comments
I agree. I just think that he is talented kid that I am looking forward to seeing play.
About Bradley, Ichiro, Figgins, Moore, and to a lesser extent Jack Wilson and Mike Sweeney. :)
We're all anxious right now. Except me...I'm just kind of bummed at the slow start for the whole franchise.
I notice that in his first 2-for-22, he struck out only four times, John.
18 balls into play, only two found the outfield grass -- normal luck would have had him around six hits by now.
And AA baseball is no walk in the park. It's probably a good notch or two better than the ACC.
.091 looks ugly, but it's mostly just bad luck that he's not around .270 in his first week.
...............
True, he might be fighting a rearguard action, but hey. It's his first week in an unfamiliar setting.
It's not 1% concerning; it's 0% concerning.
jemanji,
I don't know who you are, but I love reading your comments and the comments from other people on this site. I would love to see some more Nick Franklin video if anyone can put some up at some time. I am a fan of his too. Right now I am a big fan of Dustin Ackley. i love his swing.
John
Jeff Clarke, former editor of the Seattle premium sports site Detectovision.com, the original Mariner "sellout" blog :- ) before most of the M's blog-o-sphere started monetizing.
M's fan since about Richie Zisk or so. Enrique Romo, actually. Will remain a fan until Dustin Ackley Jr's first big-league hit, and then hope to move on to more esoteric pursuits. LOL.
Thanks for the kind words John. Keep the posts comin'!
Will do. I really do enjoy this site.. I am looking forward to following this Franklin kid.
He looks good. I also like Seager too..He is a gamer...
John