Seattle Mariners: Tracking Top Prospect Alex Jackson’s Development
A lot of people with knowledge about Major League Baseball liked the Seattle Mariners a lot when it came to predicting a winner of the American League pennant. A lavish rotation with Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, James Paxton and former top prospect Taijuan Walker was supposed to be the strength of the club.
The addition of Nelson Cruz to support Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager in the heart of the lineup became more so Cruz leading the way than anything. Cano struggled mightily for most of the season and due to a lack of regular base runners, Seager’s RBI totals dropped off from 2014.
In a season 162 games and six months long where so many different factors are in play, things can often go awry in MLB. Look no further than this year’s Washington Nationals in the NL. For Seattle’s AL West ambitions, the same was true.
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2015’s top prospect within the Mariners’ organization is outfielder Alex Jackson. Drafted sixth overall in last June’s draft, Jackson represents the fourth position player drafted by Seattle inside the top 10 in the last decade. If the Mariners are ever to win a World Series title, fans need to be optimistic that Jackson is the real deal.
A catcher by trade in high school, the Mariners have a poor track record of drafting that archetype. Jeff Clement was selected 3rd overall in 2005 at the same position. His big league career consisted of 152 games and a .218/.277/.371 line.
In 2012, the club tried their luck with this year’s Opening Day catcher, Mike Zunino. He hit for power but not average in his sophomore season last year. 2015 was no different, as the the 24-year-old hit a pitiful .174 through 112 games. At the end of August he was reassigned to Triple-A Tacoma and will not be re-recalled.
Jackson likely will not play catcher for the Mariners. Between Zunino, Jesus Montero and Jesus Sucre, the team has options, though mostly mediocre ones. Jackson has not logged a single start at catcher in his minor league career. The 19-year-old has instead played both the corner outfield spots. This campaign was his first outside of the Arizona Fall League. He started out in Low-A with the Everett AquaSox before moving onto the High-A Clinton LumberKings.
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A combined line of .207/.318/.365 between the two leagues was not overwhelming. Considering he did log 121 plate appearances with Clinton and could not manage to find a groove hitting only .157 isn’t really great feedback for the front office. A lone bright spot from Jackson’s time at the dish would be he averaged a home run in every 20 at-bats while with Everett.
Jackson was one-of-two high school athletes not a pitcher taken inside the top 10 last year. The two collegiate players (Kyle Schwarber and Michael Conforto) are doing just fine right now on their respective big league clubs. The other high schooler taken was shortstop Nick Gordon by the Minnesota Twins. A pick before Jackson, the 19-year-old Gordon fared better in his first go with the High-A Cedar Rapids Kernels. He spent the entire year there, hitting .277/.336/.360 with one home run, 58 RBI and 25 stolen bases. In contrast to Jackson, Gordon seems to be faster paced for live MLB action.
He’s not another Mike Trout or Bryce Harper — few are. But the Seattle Mariners need Alex Jackson to be something for them. Not another Zunino or Dustin Ackley and certainly not a Clement. But in two to three years time, the production of a Schwarber or Conforto would be much appreciated by the Emerald City’s fanbase. Otherwise, the city might never get their ever elusive World Series celebration parade.