RobInge Hood Message Board

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- You want patience from your leadoff hitter? On Sunday, Austin Jackson drew his fifth walk in his five exhibition games.
You want hits from your leadoff hitter? Jackson is 5-for-9 this spring.
You want speed from your leadoff hitter? Jackson stole third Sunday, and he almost beat out a grounder for an infield hit.

You want confidence in your leadoff hitter? You should have seen Jackson smile as he talked about what's coming up in the next few days.

On Tuesday, in a start against the Tigers, Washington right-hander Stephen Strasburg is scheduled for his unveiling. It will mark the first pro outing in spring training or the regular season for Strasburg, whom the Nationals made the first pick in last year's draft and then signed for $15.1 million, the most guaranteed money that a drafted player has received to turn pro.

Asked what it would be like to face Strasburg on Tuesday, Jackson said, "That would be fun because of all the things you hear about him. He's definitely a good pitcher. I know he has a real good fastball. It will be an interesting matchup."

On Wednesday, the Tigers will face the Yankees for the first time since the Yankees sent Jackson to the Tigers last December in the trade for Curtis Granderson.
"I won't try too hard against them or try to do too much," Jackson said. "I don't want to make it too difficult. If I start pressing, I'll be fighting against myself."

Jackson has spoken to Granderson once, during a previous spring training.
"I watched him coming up through the minors," Jackson said. "I never thought I'd be traded for him.
"I was compared to him a lot. That's an honor to be compared to somebody like that."
Now Jackson is due to replace Granderson in the Tigers' leadoff spot, presuming he shows this spring he can handle hitting atop the order.
Entering Sunday, Jackson's on-base percentage this spring was .727. On Sunday, he made clear that it's a .727 cleared for takeoff.

Already one of my favorite threads!

Austin Jackson is the one guy that could bring me back to liking baseball.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2010/03/04/2010-03-04_yanks_open__isnt_it_grand.html

uh oh.

Interesting. seems both guys are wearing #14.

VIERA, Fla. -- Detroit Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson keeps impressing. He got a double with his speed and jacked a 400-foot homer to center field Tuesday against the Washington Nationals.

“That felt good,” Jackson said. “I got a pitch I could handle, a fastball middle away, got my hands out and put a good, aggressive swing on it.”

And he turned a single into a double by reading the fact that Nationals left fielder Josh Willingham wasn’t going to be able to get a throw to second base before he reached it.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said there are runners with speed, and those who know what to do with speed. He agreed that Jackson’s double was an example of the latter.

“He’s more than fast,” Leyland said. “Do I consider him Deion Sanders? No. But he flies.”

Jackson is batting .538 with 7 hits in 13 at-bats. Factor in five walks and he has a .667 on-base percentage. Even cutting those percentages in half would be acceptable for a rookie leadoff hitter.

“If he can keep his head above water offensively,” Leyland said, “he could be a huge weapon up there.

“You never know about hitting up here. You just never know. And he’s looked OK at the plate. But like Hoot Evers always told me, when the season starts the curveballs get sharper and the fastballs get better.”

Evers, who died in 1991, played outfield for the Tigers before becoming their director of player development and scouting.

Jackson was asked about facing the New York Yankees today in Lakeland. He was one of their top prospects until coming to Detroit in December as part of the Curtis Granderson-Edwin Jackson trade.

“It will be fun to play against guys I came up through the system with,” he said. “But it also will be just like another game, where you want to play hard and get your work done.”

I have no idea why I'm doing this...but, here you go TRap.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2010/03/tigers_rookie_austin_jackson_d.html

was any of that off Strassburg???

.471 vs .200. interesting indeed. need we start the ROY campaign now?

Austin Jackson flashed his potential in the leadoff spot with three big runs. His infield single leading off the first inning set up Magglio Ordonez to open the scoring when he blistered a line-drive double to the fence in left-center field. Jackson legged out a two-out triple in the fifth and scored on Johnny Damon's line-drive single to center, then tripled and scored again leading off the seventh. Jeff Larish added a two-run single.

Granderson entered Friday batting .160 for the Yankees. He had not yet hit a home run. He had no doubles. He had one extra-base hit, a triple, in nine games.

Meanwhile, Austin Jackson began the day batting .424 for the Tigers. He had one homer, one double, and two triples. And, frankly, he has played a better center field than Granderson displayed during his years here.

From The Detroit News: http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/lynn ... z0ij6OIdZZ