It’s good to be back with you! I’ve been fully fledged in the moving process over the past week and have not had a stitch of time to spend online or even to recouperate from lugging boxes and furniture all over the house. I’m far from done, and there is a “honey do” list longer than my leg that awaits my attention. For now, let’s try to get back into the swing of things.
Dustin Ackley went 2-3 yesterday hitting his third major league HR off of All-Star Oakland A’s pitcher Trevor Cahill. Ackley also singled and stole his second base, putting him in position to score the first run of the game for the Mariners as well. Ackley’s contributions proved to be paramount as the rest of the lineup was unable to generate any offense off of Cahill.
Ackley is now hitting an even .300 with his 3 HR 8 RBI and 9 runs scored in his first 15 games. The homerun that he hit last night was a bolt to dead center in the cavernous Oakland-Alameda Coliseum over the 400 ft. marker. There has been much conjecture made about Ackley’s power, or lack thereof, but from what I’ve seen of him has me believing that he could hit 20-25 HR per season at the big league level, rather than the 12-15 that had originally been projected from him.
The market for Dustin Ackley’s cards hasn’t changed much from last glance. Autographs from the 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft set are ranging from $42-48 each and his base chrome cards from that set, as well as his 2011 Bowman’s Best cards can be had in the $2-3 range.
Ackley is barrelling up on just about everything that he swings at now and the M’s are just a couple of weeks away from an east coast swing through Toronto, Boston and New York (July 19-27) that will expose his considerable talent to a much larger media market. An increase in national exposure as well as an opportunity to hit in their hitter-friendly venues could spark another jump in the already fervent demand for Ackley’s cards. I think there’s more growth to be had and that the road trip will prove that.
We’ll find out in a few weeks.
