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.

Follow Scott Levesque on Twitter at @scottlevesque.