Now that the Seattle Mariners have drafted 1B/OF Dustin Ackley in the draft today, many questions have left the fans hanging. The most popular one being, “How is Ackley going to fit in Seattle?”
Ackley is a left-handed hitter with power potential, something the Mariners have desperately needed in the spacious Safeco Field. Although his 22 home runs this season would already be enough for the M’s, he is more valuable to the team than that.
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Ackley is one of few “true” five-tool baseball players in this draft as he complemented his 22 dingers with a .412 batting average and went 13 for 17 in stolen base attempts.
As mentioned earlier, the only problem with Ackley is his arm in the field, which may eventually send him to left field instead of his usual home in center.
His 70 RBIs might not seem all that overwhelming, but that was in only 250 at bats. So in all reality he is an RBI machine that should be batting around three or four in the lineup.
His MLB clone seems to be Braves outfielder Nate McLouth (career batting average of .261 with career-highs of 26 home runs and 94 RBIs in 2008) or Indians outfielder Grady Sizemore (career batting average of .275 with four straight seasons of more than 20 home runs and 75 RBIs).
With the 27th pick the Mariners took shortstop Nicholas Franklin while they selected C Steven Baron at No.33.
Reach Ben Brown at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
