Ackley looked absolutely serene as he walked to the plate to that standing ovation in the 2nd inning. The crowd gave him a HERO'S WELCOME and he had no emotion on his face whatsoever (apart, perhaps, from a bit of a stunned look for a second or two). After strike two in that first AB..the BS rookie call that aaroused a chorus of boos from the fans...he had that stunned look again...for two or three seconds and aimed at the home plate umpire (Eddings, BTW has the most inconsistent strike zone in major league baseball...and it usually biases in favor of the pitchers, as his career 90 umpire factor will attest)...and then he calmly turned and faced Oswalt again. After the base hit, he jogged to first, shook the coach's hand...and...didn't even crack a smile. The dude was ROBOTIC up there.
This...is a kid who's going to have ZERO transition time...ZERO statistical butterflies...and ZERO problem facing and adjusting to any adversity. As you note, Doc, his game is among the most flexible and dangerous offensive games around, so there isn't going to be one way to pitch to him...which...with his eye...means you can pencil in that .400 OBP starting TODAY. Not to mention add some nice pop.
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