Ackley

[Igoe4Mariners]

1) Needs to shave his ugly-ass, grizzly beard
2) Needs to stop being so damn passive at the plate. I get being patient, but damn he takes so many first-pitch, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 fastballs right down the middle and strikes out looking so much, it's ridiculous. I mean damn man, for a guy that was supposed to have great knowledge at the plate and a good bat, he sure isn't acting like it.

Maybe it's a confidence factor, I dunno. It pisses me off to see a guy with his supposed talent not trying to crush fastballs right down the cock in hitter's counts. I'm sick of him taking in those situations and swinging half-ass.

/end vent

[TellItToTheDA]

See, Ackley DOES have a great idea of the strike zone. But, it's his idea of the strike zone. It's as if he doesn't seem to grasp that every umpire calls the game a little differently, and you need to adjust your approach to what calls the pitcher is getting on any given night. If a pitch is CLOSE, not necessarily even in the zone, just close enough to where it could go either way, you have to swing with two strikes. Start protecting the zone Dustin, we didn't make you the second pick to watch your flail.

[daddyferrari]

I agree! IMO he should be performing so much better, it's been a little while, it's time to get this thing going Dustin!! Another lost opportunity down the drain... damn kids.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Ackley shaved most of his beard. Guarantee you he will stroke tonight.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Ackley shaved most of his beard. Guarantee you he will stroke tonight.

Well at least he got a hit and a RBI. But he still struck out looking on the same pitch as last night against the same pitcher. WTF?

[clarknova]

I've been reading what Churchill is saying about him and he says it's 95% mechanical. I need to figure out what the hell all his scouting terminology means but he's saying his struggles and strike outs are due to "front side leak" in his swing. Whatever that means, or whether or not that's the problem, he needs to fix it. Now.

[Igoe4Mariners]

I've been reading what Churchill is saying about him and he says it's 95% mechanical. I need to figure out what the hell all his scouting terminology means but he's saying his struggles and strike outs are due to "front side leak" in his swing. Whatever that means, or whether or not that's the problem, he needs to fix it. Now.

I don't know much, but Ichiro has been "front side leaking" for a decade and done fine. Ackley has always swung off his front foot, which causes him to struggle on outside pitches when he tries and pulls it. Last year he was slapping everything on the outer half the other way. This year, it seems like he's trying to pull and lift everything for a homer.

[clarknova]

So, what exactly does "front side leak" mean? I'm still unclear on it and I'm watching his swings to see. On the broadcast they talked about it as well, said basically what you said. His front side is "leaking" and he's getting fooled on pitches on the outer part of the plate. Can you elaborate on that at all?

[Igoe4Mariners]

So, what exactly does "front side leak" mean? I'm still unclear on it and I'm watching his swings to see. On the broadcast they talked about it as well, said basically what you said. His front side is "leaking" and he's getting fooled on pitches on the outer part of the plate. Can you elaborate on that at all?

I don't pretend to be an expert on this, but here goes:

Since Ackley relies on hitting off his front foot, his balance is extremely important. It's almost as if he's lunging at the ball when he swings, so he has to be balanced or you see a lot of weak pop ups to the center and left field like we've been seeing lately. It seems as if his front foot stride is off at the moment and not in unison with the back part of his body (hands, back leg, head), causing him to leak out in front of the plate, stride too long and too soon, and in result, he's mis-hitting the ball a lot. He's leaking too far away from the plate too early, while his hands and company are staying too far back, making it very difficult for him to square up the ball.

I have no clue what's causing him to do this, but it seems like he's trying to crush every ball he sees and pull it into the right field seats, when he should be trying to stay up the middle. The "leaking" also doesn't explain his numerous strikeouts looking, either, so there's a lot going on at the moment.

In my mind, he's just in a massive sophomore slump, and may be in it all year. He's a smart guy and will likely get it figured out though. Can't say the same for some of our other struggling players.

[clarknova]

It seems as if his front foot stride is off at the moment and not in unison with the back part of his body

I asked Jason Churchill about it and he pointed me to an article where he spells it out in detail from back in May on ProspectInsider.com:

He says basically the same thing you just did, only he specifies the direction of the drift and I can totally see it now.


Dustin Ackley
Ackley is the most gifted hitter on the 2012 Seattle Mariners, and it's even all that close. He's hitting in the .240s, however, and I think there's a chance the front side leak is catching up to the former No. 2 overall pick.

Ackley has had issues with pitches on the inner half of the plate -- and he knows it. He's batting .223 on such offerings this season and batted .219 on them a year ago. Those numbers include pitches called strikes in those zones, and all pitches Ackley has swung at that were middle-in or further inside, including those off the plate.

In an attempt to combat this issue, it appears Ackley is drifting out towards the second baseman -- not second base, the second baseman, almost toward where the first baseman plays off the bag -- to open up to better handle the inside pitches.

It's not working and it's impacting what he does on pitches right down the middle or middle-away. Ackley is batting .218 on pitches right down Main Street, while the league average is .304. Kyle Seager is batting .455 on pitches down the middle. Miguel Olivo is hitting .277 in such situations.

Watching Ackley from the centerfield TV camera, you can see him aggressively open up early, step his front foot toward the second baseman, and on a pitch middle-away, have to reach out -- leaning in the process -- to reach the ball. He did this a little bit last year, but it was not as pronounced and he seemed to get back to the pitches middle and middle-away much easier.

This seems to have created two holes for Ackley -- inner half, and unless he's looking dead-red down the middle, anything else in the zone, especially those in the lower part of the zone.

For me, he looks uncomfortable up at the plate for the first time ever, and it also looks like he's trying to kill the ball every time he strolls into the batter's box. He'll get back to the line-drive bat he's supposed to be, and we've seen some signs of that the past six or eight games.

Ackley has also been chasing more this year, but he's really laid off those pitches in comparison since the Twins series last week, swinging at three balls out of the zone since, versus 11 in the Indians-White Series series' in April.

He said you can see it EVERY time he swings. I pulled up some video and sure enough. It's extremely pronounced. It sounds like it's totally fixable and is a mechanical issue, but it really speaks volumes about how difficult it is to fix an issue like this. It sounds like he tweaked his swing to combat the inside pitches he was struggling with and it double backfired on him. Like you say Igoe- He'll figure it out, but yeah, it could take a while. Thanks for helping with that. I was having trouble Googling it.

[clarknova]

It seems as if his front foot stride is off at the moment and not in unison with the back part of his body

I asked Jason Churchill about it and he pointed me to an article where he spells it out in detail from back in May on ProspectInsider.com:

He says basically the same thing you just did, only he specifies the direction of the drift and I can totally see it now.


Dustin Ackley
Ackley is the most gifted hitter on the 2012 Seattle Mariners, and it's even all that close. He's hitting in the .240s, however, and I think there's a chance the front side leak is catching up to the former No. 2 overall pick.

Ackley has had issues with pitches on the inner half of the plate -- and he knows it. He's batting .223 on such offerings this season and batted .219 on them a year ago. Those numbers include pitches called strikes in those zones, and all pitches Ackley has swung at that were middle-in or further inside, including those off the plate.

In an attempt to combat this issue, it appears Ackley is drifting out towards the second baseman -- not second base, the second baseman, almost toward where the first baseman plays off the bag -- to open up to better handle the inside pitches.

It's not working and it's impacting what he does on pitches right down the middle or middle-away. Ackley is batting .218 on pitches right down Main Street, while the league average is .304. Kyle Seager is batting .455 on pitches down the middle. Miguel Olivo is hitting .277 in such situations.

Watching Ackley from the centerfield TV camera, you can see him aggressively open up early, step his front foot toward the second baseman, and on a pitch middle-away, have to reach out -- leaning in the process -- to reach the ball. He did this a little bit last year, but it was not as pronounced and he seemed to get back to the pitches middle and middle-away much easier.

This seems to have created two holes for Ackley -- inner half, and unless he's looking dead-red down the middle, anything else in the zone, especially those in the lower part of the zone.

For me, he looks uncomfortable up at the plate for the first time ever, and it also looks like he's trying to kill the ball every time he strolls into the batter's box. He'll get back to the line-drive bat he's supposed to be, and we've seen some signs of that the past six or eight games.

Ackley has also been chasing more this year, but he's really laid off those pitches in comparison since the Twins series last week, swinging at three balls out of the zone since, versus 11 in the Indians-White Series series' in April.

He said you can see it EVERY time he swings. I pulled up some video and sure enough. It's extremely pronounced. It sounds like it's totally fixable and is a mechanical issue, but it really speaks volumes about how difficult it is to fix an issue like this. It sounds like he tweaked his swing to combat the inside pitches he was struggling with and it double backfired on him. Like you say Igoe- He'll figure it out, but yeah, it could take a while. Thanks for helping with that. I was having trouble Googling it.