busted me up watching it. That little, "what in the world were YOU lookin' at...wait, I'm the rookie. Right. Okay. 'Strike' two then..." glance. *laughs*
Smoak is legit. Ackley was ALWAYS legit, and his whip-quick bat is gonna drive em over the fence in RF. I called him "Olerud with wheels" in college, though they get there different ways. Ole was 6'5. He had leverage and perfect bat control, even though his bat wasn't especially fast, and he picked the ball up early so he had plenty of time to swing.
Ackley whips the bat. He does have some Ichiro in him, that "I'm okay with going the other way with a sharp grounder for a single" mentality, or the fighting off pitches with late flicks of the wrist. But he ALSO has great zone judgment and is willing not to swing at a pitch. And as Junior said, "I've never lifted a weight in my life, so I don't hit home runs the way Big Mac does. I use a light bat and lots of batspeed to golf the ball out of the park instead of muscle it." Or something to that effect.
Ackley's a golfer who can drive the ball deep with that whip-fast judgment. He'll be a lot like Gar when Gar said, "Fastball, inner half? Really?" And clubbed it.
I don't expect Utley's 30 HRs. but 15-25? Yeah. Add in 40+ doubles for his speed and shots down the line and the number of walks I expect and that's quite a player. At 2nd base? Wow - even if his decent performance there is "unconventional" until he gets more reps.
The Justin and Dustin show is starting. Add King and Kong to that and we've got the makings of a VERY interesting next few years.
And this year, too. ;)
Hopefully it's a better-outcome version of the Twins and their Morneau-Mauer-Santana-Liriano build.
~G
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