Spec found a recent player he comps to Dustin Ackley...

... In terms of tons of hits and walks with hardly any strikeouts.  It was in 2005:

23 G, 82 AB, 30 H, 7 dbl, 3 tpl, 2 HR, 21 BB, 10 K

.366/.495/.598/1.093

The very next year in the bigs:

396 AB, 122 H, 20 dbl, 7 tpl, 11 HR, 34 BB, 77 K -- .308/.365/.477

Career MLB: 124 OPS+, .291/.363/.491

It's Andre Ethier of the Dodgers.

Of course, Ack's AFL season is better, with 8 dbls, 4 HR and 23 walks in only 18 games, and he's 4-for-4 on stolen bases.  And playing a tougher defensive position.  And it goes on.

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=== Joe D, Dept. ===

I have an inkling for Spec's "tons of hits and walks with hardly any strikeouts."  We have a tendency to judge hitters based on RC/27, or OPS, or ::shudder:: wOBA ... but as The Founding Father says, baseball is about the strike zone.

Not often you simply ask, who were the guys with EYE over 2.00?  And who hit for power and stuff?

Simply I like Spec's turn of phrase.  That's all.

.................

Many years ago, when baseball people were dumb as bricks, they used to admire batters who hit the ball hard and who never struck out...

DiMaggio had five seasons in which he homered more frequently than he struck out.  Think about trying to pitch to him.

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=== Ethier ===

Quickly became a LH hitter (like Ackley) with 40 doubles (like Ackley) and 20 homers (like Ackley, hopefully) who has posted a 130 OPS (which Ackley would exceed with BB's if he panned out).

Ron Shandler is very excited about Ethier's potential to do even more.  For example, in the 2H of 2009, Ethier did this:

• .337 AVG
  
• .415 OBP
• .597 SLG
• Despite only 25 homers, pro-rated

The key being Ethier's performance vs. left hand pitching.  In the 2H of 2009, Ethier's EYE, CT, etc etc all went wayyyy up vs LHP's.

As G-Money has indicated, Ackley's performance vs LHP's is not yet up to par.  It may be that very factor that becomes the icing on the cake for him, eventually.

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=== Quick Splash ===

In his rookie year, 2006, Ethier slugged .577 in his very first month with the Dodgers.  In his third month, he did better than that.

This is what Ackley's talking about "I'm real comfortable with any pitch in any count."  It's reflected in the huge AFL eye ratio, and can be reflected in being able to deal with confusing ML pitch sequences.

Personally, I swoon away madly in love with Ackley's comment "I'm real comfortable with any pitch in any count."  I like the extension of ki involved.  Too many American hitters go up to the plate demanding easy success.   Japanese hitters think in terms of two people involved in the pitch.

Can't write Ackley into the HOF over the winter, but he sure gives a 101-loss city something to chat about.

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Cheerio,

Dr D