Ackley Promoted to AAA

[JosephC]

According to Geoff Baker:

The Mariners have promoted second baseman Dustin Ackley to Class AAA Tacoma along with left-handed pitcher Edward Parades and right-hander Anthony Vavaro. All three report tomorrow.

Good news for Ackley, it shows he has proven to the Mariners front office he is ready to go to AAA. I'll be watching his stats even closer now since AAA is the closest thing to the big leagues.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Good news. Hopefully if he does well there, we can call him up to Seattle in September.

[georgmi]

Sounds like Ackley needs a lot more work on his defense before he's ready to push Figgins back to third, but it would be neat to see him get a cup of coffee in September.

If they do call him up in September, does that start his free agency clock?

[SeattleSportsNerd]

^^^No. I believe it is a certain amount of time in any given year that dictates that, and a September call-up would be well short of it. I've seen the ruling on that before but don't know it off the top of my head. Anyway, this is a good move for Ackley. The stats don't completely tell the story of his season so far, anyway. He has hit .300 or above in each of the last two months after posting a sub-.200 average for April. And his K/BB ratio is impressive for a first-year guy...55/41 I believe. Don't necessarily expect him to tear the cover off the ball right away, but you will see the results in his OBP more than anything.

Also, I heard an interview yesterday with the Mariner's farm system director and he was talking about the move mainly being based on Ackley's maturity as a hitter. He may not post eye popping stats, but his approach and plate recognition are outstanding. Plus, he's not a very big guy and more power will come as he fills out.