Bucky out to prove himself to M’s again
Bucky Jacobsen is hitting home runs again in the minor leagues and feeling good about his swing.
He just wonders if the Seattle Mariners are noticing. Or if they even care.
“There’s one thing I don’t doubt. I don’t doubt that I can hit,” Jacobsen said. “But there’s all kinds of doubt about whether the Mariners want me.”
Jacobsen has been progressing through the Mariners’ minor league system the past two weeks on an injury rehab assignment, regaining his timing with every game. Last week at Class A Inland Empire in San Bernardino, Calif., he hit a home run in three straight games. He rejoined the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers on Saturday and hopes to become a September callup to the Mariners when teams are allowed to expand their rosters.
Jacobsen knows he must hit for consistent power – on a right knee that still isn’t 100 percent after two operations since last season – and prove himself all over again. If the Mariners have written him off, maybe some other team will notice.
That’s what he’s playing for now.
“I pretty much have to start from zero and break in again. I have to show them again what I can do,” he said. “I don’t have any doubt whether I can play there. It’s just a matter of whether the Mariners want me.”
They did last year.
Jacobsen, who will turn 30 on Aug. 30, caught the intrigue of Mariners fans last year when he tore up the Pacific Coast League with 26 home runs in 81 games for the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers. While he pounded the ball, the Mariners slipped into what would become a 99-loss nightmare with a lineup that lacked just what he could give – power.
The Mariners, Jacobsen’s favorite team as he grew up in Hermiston, Ore., called him up July 15 and immediately put him in the lineup.
He smacked nine home runs in 42 games and became a favorite of the crowd at Safeco Field. But, the more he played on his bad right knee – injured years earlier when he ran into the end of a tarp chasing a pop foul – the worse it got.
Jacobsen underwent surgery in September to repair damaged cartilage, and he started a recovery process that he thought would take weeks and get him ready to compete for a job at spring training.
Instead, he barely swung a bat at spring training and the rehab has taken months. The knee bothered him throughout camp and he had another surgery last spring to clean up the residue from the first operation.
On Aug. 1, in the desolate setting of the Arizona Rookie League in Peoria, Jacobsen swung over curveballs and limped through his first game in more than 10 months.
“Getting back in the batter’s box felt like I was in a foreign country,” he said. “It had been so long since I’d seen live pitching, that it felt like the guy was throwing 150 (mph).”
With every game he plays, Jacobsen’s timing gets better. He batted .588 and hit three home runs at Inland Empire.
Problem is, the knee remains an issue.
“He’s starting to hit the ball well, but he’s still getting around so-so on his leg,” said Benny Looper, the Mariners’ director of scouting and player development. “We’re just trying to get him back as close to 100 percent as we can, and go from there.”
Jacobsen still walks with a noticeable limp, even though he says the knee doesn’t hurt anymore.
“What it comes down to is that my mind has to be convinced that it’s going to be OK,” he said. “I’m naturally compensating for it, even though it doesn’t really hurt.”
Jacobsen guesses the knee won’t feel really good until he gets off it this winter. It would help to lose some weight; listed in this year’s preseason media guide at 255 pounds, he said he now weighs 275.
He hasn’t endeared the Mariners because of that, although the most important factor in Jacobsen’s comeback is how he hits the ball. He’s convinced he will do that.
“I did last year on a bad knee,” he said. “You never really know until you get to the major leagues if you can play well there. What I learned about myself is that I can hit up there. That will never leave my mind, but I’m sure I have to re-prove that again to the baseball world.”