Olerud was 6'5. Ackley is 6'1. Olerud weighed 205-215, easy. Ackley has trouble making 185 with his scrawny body.
Olerud had a line-drive/slight-uppercut swing that meant he could loft balls out of the park, especially with his leverage.
Ackley has been slapping them along the ground, which makes people doubt his ability to do more than leg out doubles.
That's basically what's going on.
This is what he looks like in the Fall League this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23uKZcbMeoA
He's a little wrist-y with his swing. So's Chase Utley at times - can use those wrists to just flip balls over the outfield fence.
Watching his senior year of college, Ackley drove the ball incredibly well. I guess some people attributed that to the metal bat, but to me it was the last thing I wanted to see before signing off on him as the real deal.
He does remind me a lot of Utley. If he finds Utley's power he'll be unstoppable. If he runs his way to a lot of doubles and triples instead, that's fine too.
Utley: .295/.380/.515/.895, 38 2B/5 3B/29 HR per 162
Pedroia: .305/.370/.460/.830, 50 2B/16 HR per 162
Olerud: .295/.400/.465/.865, 36 2B/18 HR per 162
Ackley's gonna be in that range, IMO. I think Ole splits the difference nicely (higher walks than Pedroia, less HR power than Utley) but Ackley will leg out doubles that Ole never could.
Maybe he'll only hit 10 HRs a year...but if David Bell could pull 30 2B and 14 HR for his 162-game line, then I don't see how Ackley could fail to match that, with a higher BA and OBP.
Can we get around to March already, please? I want to see some GOOD baseball players wear the Ms uni this year.
~G