Updated Nov 20, 2009 - 7:21 pm

Ackley On The Move

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Shortly before the amateur draft Matt Pitman interviewed Dustin Ackley's college coach. In that interview the coach volunteered that he could see Ackley at second base. It sounded like an odd comment to make about a centerfielder. I loved the idea though. A left handed bat at second? Left field open for someone who may hit for more power?

I asked Jack Zduriencik about this shortly after. He told me that they weren't thinking about doing that but then he raised his eyebrows, gave a little smile and said, "It is an intriguing thought though."

Tonight he announced that they were going to try Ackley at second. He has played the entire Arizona Fall League season in center but Z said they didn't want to overwhelm him there. "He just got the wood bat in his hands and that was enough. We didn't want to do that to him," he said on a conference call.

He did well with the wood bat. The season wraps up tomorrow and Ackley as of tonight hit .315 with an OBP of .412 and OPS .836. He walked 12 times and struck out 19. I would say he did nicely with the transition to wood.

Now let's see how the transition to second goes. Z says that they did work him out a little there away from the games and those who saw him were surprised at how natural it seemed to him. The middle infield is not completely foreign to him as he played shortstop in high school.

Z stressed that this move had nothing to do with what was going on at second base right now. He also said numerous times that the move was consistent with the organizational philosophy of liking guys who can play multiple positions. Ackley according to Z is on board with the plan.

He calls the move an experiment, one that could "last two weeks, four weeks a half a season or maybe it works."

Definitely one to keep an eye on.

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• kgbhusky wrote...

  Ackerly to 2B

  Ackerly to 2B, Lopez to first, Branyan to DH or down the road(31HR goodbye?). Get some power in LF, which is not Saunders. It does not look like he will develop the power the Mariners desperately need, but he is a great defensive backup. Interesting!

  November 21, 2009 6:01 am

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• That westside guy wrote...

  Not an original thought, but

  It's hard to see Jose Lopez being in Z's long-term plans. The guy has no plate discipline and is not a particularly good defender. Plus going to another home park might very well boost his offensive stats significantly, much the same as with Beltre (although that's one guy I'm going to miss - his glove is magic, and if he lands in a RH-friendly park he's going to make some other team very happy).

  November 21, 2009 3:32 pm

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• dmojr wrote...

  HAPPY THANKSGIVING SHANNON

  Thats all.

  November 26, 2009 2:41 pm

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• MarinerDaddy wrote...

  I see nothing.....

  in Lopez stats that indicate he has no plate discipline. Batting average, rbi, slugging %, home runs. Losing Lopez would create a BIG hole in our lineup offensively and that's exactly where we need the most help.

  November 27, 2009 12:43 pm

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• Joser wrote...

  Lopez' plate discipline

  If you want to talk about plate discipline you should look at stats that reflect plate discipline. Among all 2B Lopez is dead worst when it comes to swinging at balls outside the strike zone -- he swings at over 35% of such pitches; by comparison, Uggla, Utley, Zobrist and Roberts each swing at less than 20%. Not surprisingly, Lopez also walked less than any other 2B in baseball: just 24 BB last year, vs over 90 each for Uggla, Utley, and Zobrist. Lopez has no plate discipline compared to all other second basemen in baseball. In fact, he is among the worst of qualified players at any position. Only six players (Bengie Molina, Pablo Sandoval, A.J. Pierzynski, Alfonso Soriano, Erick Aybar, Jeff Francoeur) swung at more pitches outside the strike zone than Lopez did last year; only six players (Bengie Molina, Cristian Guzman, Miguel Tejada, Yuniesky Betancourt, Jeff Francoeur, A.J. Pierzynski) had fewer walks. It's safe to say that when it comes to plate discipline almost every other player in baseball has more plate discipline than Jose Lopez. All stats from fangraphs.com

  December 7, 2009 1:22 am

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