=== 2 Quarts of Soup off of One Oyster, Dept. ===

Ackley ran a SPD score of 117 in the minor leagues -- 111 in the first half, 120 in the second half.  Random SSI noodlings off of the strained pasta-water of this information:

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1.  DISCLAIMERS, CAVEATS and QUID PRO QUO's:  It's real tough to tell where this SPD score is going off of one year's line.

Lots of guys have 117 in one year .... and 150 in the next.  Such as Chone Figgins. Those are speed elites.  Speed elites sometimes have 117's in their SPDlines.

Other guys have 117 in one year .... and 99 the next, such as Gabe Gross and Corey Hart.  Ordinary players sometimes have isolated 117's in their SPDlines, too.

The speed burners put up high scores every year, such as Peter Bourjos going 173 two years ago and 175 last year.  Ichiro isn't going to have any 117's.

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2.  117 is quick.  Dustin Ackley had a higher SPD, in 2010, than Chone Figgins did.

Rafael Furcal is 117.  There aren't many guys who are a legit 115-120, and those who are, steal 20 bases.  Dustin Pedroia, for example, is consistently 98 on the SPD meter.

Be advised that, in 2010, Dustin Ackley put up the SPD score of a basestealer. 

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3.  We can assume that Ackley was paying more attention to learning 2B, and learning to hit, than he was paying attention to running as fast as he could after he put the ball in play.  It's possible to have a lower SPD score because you're concentrating on other things.

Possibly Ackley's score will go 117 and then 130.   If so, he definitely has a Chone Figgins future on the bases.  

Possibly it will fall off a little, in which case he'll have the speed of a second baseman.

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4.  On the face of it, a 117 footSPD score tends to refute the cynics who believe 2B will be a three-year thing for Dustin Ackley.

Robinson Cano's SPD is 80.  Pedroia's is 98.  Chase Utley is 100.

I think that people are going to find that Dustin Ackley is much quicker -- first step -- than they're expecting him to be.  It's just that they remember him as a first baseman.

Large mammals, small mammals.  Sez here that Ackley plays 2B for ten years, and prob'ly steals 200 bases while he does it.

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Cheerio,

Dr D