Saturday, Ackley had to leave a game at Texas because of ankle soreness that has served a pothole in his road to potential stardom. Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
SEATTLE — The arrival of once-rising prospect Dustin Ackley came a bit late for Mariners fans, but it ended up coming at a pretty good time in that he was playing his best baseball at a time when Seattle was finally contending for something other than 90-loss seasons.
Then came Saturday, when Ackley had to leave a game at Texas because of ankle soreness that has served a pothole in his road to potential stardom. Ackley’s solid second half to the 2014 season was put on hold when a Monday MRI revealed bone spurs in the starting left fielder’s injured left ankle.
The news came with a silver lining in that Ackley is only supposed to miss a few games, but it also arrived at a bad time for the contending Mariners. Ackley was a big part of Seattle’s unexpected success this season, and the Mariners could certainly use his bat as they try to contend for a wild-card spot.
The injury news coincided with the return of starting right fielder Michael Saunders, whose offensive potential has made the absence of Ackley a little easier to take. Veteran outfielder Endy Chavez, who had been filling in for Saunders in right field, shifts over to left to spell Ackley. And as manager Lloyd McClendon pointed out while naming James Jones and Logan Morrison: “We have other options.”
That being the case, the Mariners would love to get Ackley back sooner rather than later. He was posting a .291 batting average since the All-Star break and had been a big part of Seattle’s offensive resurgence over the second half of the season. In two of the three games Ackley has missed, the Mariners have scored zero and one runs.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, Ackley was just beginning to live up to expectations when his ankle problems led him to another setback.
