Why haven’t Mariners’ top prospects panned out?
Jun 19, 2013, 7:47 PM | Updated: 8:01 pm
By Brady Henderson
The continued struggles of the Mariners’ top prospects have been a leading storyline as the team approaches the halfway point of another losing season.
It was among the topics discussed when Jayson Stark of ESPN.com joined “Bob and Groz” on Wednesday and the conversation shifted to Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero, who were once considered to be loaded with offensive potential but have so far failed to pan out as anticipated.
Some have pointed to talent evaluation as the problem, the theory being that the Mariners erred in overestimating those players’ upside.
At least in two of those cases, Stark believes, that wasn’t the case.
“The thing that’s puzzling is I think that people evaluated Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero correctly,” Stark said, omitting Smoak without explanation. “The scouts, the development people, the front-office guys, the general managers, the people who saw those players before they were drafted and as they were coming up through the minor leagues were convinced both of them were going to hit, they were going to be difference-making offensive players. But the league figured them out and they haven’t figured out a way to adjust back.”
Bob Stelton and Dave Grosby share additional thoughts in the video below.
You can listen to Wednesday’s show here.
