AquaSox’s Alex Jackson day-to-day with hand injury

Published 7:36 pm Thursday, July 16, 2015

EVERETT — No, Alex Jackson isn’t being traded.

There was a minor flurry of online speculation Wednesday night when Jackson, the Seattle Mariners’ top prospect, was removed from the Everett AquaSox’s game against the Vancouver Canadians. However, Everett manager Rob Mummau confirmed Thursday that Jackson was removed from the game because of injury.

“His hand is just a little sore, that’s pretty much it,” Mummau said.

Jackson is universally regarded as the top prospect in the Mariners’ minor-league system. The 19-year-old right fielder from Escondido, Calif., was the sixth-overall pick in the 2014 amateur draft and is projected as an eventual impact bat at the major-league level.

Jackson is also one of the Mariners’ most valuable properties. With the Major League Baseball trade deadline fast approaching — it arrives July 31 — rumors persist that the Mariners are looking to add to their roster for a potential playoff push.

When Jackson was replaced in the field for the start of the third inning of Wednesday’s game against Vancouver, a member of the media in attendance tweeted that Jackson was removed with no apparent sign of injury. That created a brief firestorm of online chatter speculating that Jackson was involved in a trade.

However, Mummau confirmed prior to Thursday’s game that injury was why Jackson was removed from the game. Jackson aggravated his left hand while taking a swing during his first-inning at-bat, in which he struck out.

“On a swing it got a little sore on him,” Mummau said. “He’ll be day to day.”

The injury comes at an inconvenient time for Jackson and the Sox. After a slow start to the season Jackson was staring to heat up. He was riding a four-game hitting streak heading into Wednesday, a stretch that included his second home run of the season. He batted .294 in his previous nine games, and for the season he’s now slashing .259/.355/.444 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) with two homers and 11 RBI in 23 games.

“He’s definitely coming around,” Mummau said. “He’s having really good at-bats, a really good approach, staying in the big part of the field.

“It’s unfortunate this happened when it did,” Mummau added. “Any time you’re swinging the bat well and then have to sit out for a few days it’s not ideal. But that’s all part of the game.”

Jackson did not take batting practice Thursday and was not in the starting lineup.