Is Jacoby Ellsbury lost within the Red Sox organization
How do you go from rising star to under-the-radar
veteran without a single dramatic drop-off to explain the fallout? In my
opinion it’s unprecedented and arguably worse than a 'crash and burn' scenario.
However, I could be asking the wrong question: Instead of “how” maybe I
should be asking “who?”
The
"who" is exactly where the problem lies and the “who”, in this case,
is Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury catapulted onto the scene in 2008 during
his rookie year captivated management and players with his talent and his
performance in the batter's box as well as on the field. Now fast forward to
the spring of 2013 and Ellsbury is all but a ghost within the Red Sox
organization, and I'm left to wonder, why?
Within
the span of five years a rising star within the organization is
on the cusp of Red Sox purgatory and for what reason? Ellsbury may have been
unfairly labeled injury prone and is entering the final year of his contract
(is agent is Scott Boris so, yea, that sucks), but does all that lead to baseball
obscurity?
For
the past five years the 29-year old center fielder has produced on
the field both offensively and defensively. From 2008-2012 Ellsbury has a
season average of 73 runs, 130 hits, 49 RBI, 36 stolen bases and a .294 batting
average - those numbers include an injury plagued 2010 and 2012 season. He’s
done everything the Red Sox have asked him to do as a player/ambassador for the
organization, and he’s one of the elite center fielder in major league baseball.
So why do we hear crickets when his name is spoken?
At this point who knows why he's been overlooked. Perhaps with the emergence of Jackie Bradley Jr. and Xander Bogaerts, Ellsbury has become a bit of a lost child within the organization. Honestly it's a paradox if there ever was one, but when it comes to baseball Ellsbury's always ready to prove his worth - no matter how loud he has to be.
