Posted: Fri April 26, 2013 11:15AM; Updated: Fri April 26, 2013
12:10PM Tom Verducci  Smoak but no fire: Former top prospect
still hasn't heated up  Decrease font Decrease font Enlarge font
Enlarge font Justin Smoak Justin Smoak has a career average of
.223 and only one home run this season for Seattle. Brad
Mangin/SI  How many major league plate appearances does it take
to understand the value and potential of a player? Five hundred?
One thousand? Fifteen hundred? It's time for the Seattle
Mariners to start asking that question as it regards Justin
Smoak. The first baseman recently passed the 1,500 career plate
appearance mark, with still no indication that he is the kind of
impact hitter they thought they were getting when they hand-
picked him from the Texas organization in the Cliff Lee trade of
2010.  Smoak is a .223 career hitter. How bad is that? If you
took every major league first baseman in history who was given
1,500 plate appearances through age 26, Smoak has the worst
batting average by far -- sin