Jacoby Ellsbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jacoby Ellsbury | |
|---|---|
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| Boston Red Sox — No. 46 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: September 11, 1983 Madras, Oregon |
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| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| MLB debut | |
| June 30, 2007 for the Boston Red Sox | |
| Career statistics (through June 19, 2009) |
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| Batting average | .297 |
| Home runs | 15 |
| Runs batted in | 86 |
| Stolen bases | 88 |
| Teams | |
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Jacoby McCabe Ellsbury (first name pronounced /dʒəˈkoʊbi/; born September 11, 1983 in Madras, Oregon) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Boston Red Sox. Ellsbury was first drafted, but not signed, by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 23rd round of the 2002 MLB Draft; he was drafted by Boston in 2005, 23rd overall, in the draft, after three years at Oregon State University.
Ellsbury is officially enrolled as a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes[1] and is the first Native American of Navajo descent to reach the Major Leagues.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Professional career
[edit] 2005
Ellsbury began his professional career on July 14, 2005, with the Lowell Spinners in the short-season Single-A New York-Penn League. He showed right off that his patience and great speed were an asset when he led off the game by walking on a 3-2 pitch, stole second, continuing to third on a throwing error and then scoring on a wild pitch. On September 7, he tied a Lowell team record with 3 stolen bases in a game. He finished the season batting .317 with 23 stolen bases in 35 games.
Ellsbury was named Red Sox Minor League Base Stealer of the Month for July, when he went a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts.
[edit] 2006
Jacoby Ellsbury began the season as the #6 prospect in the Red Sox organization[3] with the Single-A Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League where, on July 3, he tied a Wilmington franchise record by stealing four bases in a game. After batting .299 with 25 steals in 61 games and being named to the 2006 Carolina League All-Star team, he was promoted to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League on July 12[4].
Soon after his promotion to Portland he was named Eastern League Player of the Week for the week of August 6–13 for batting .400 along with his first Double-A home run and hitting safely in seven straight games.[5] Jacoby finished the Double-A season in Portland batting .308 with 16 steals in 50 games. He was selected by the Red Sox as their minor league Defensive Player of the Year and Baserunner of the Year and given a roster spot on the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League, an offseason developmental league where minor league players play to refine their skill in front of mainly scouts and team executives.
In the AFL, he hit only .276 in 25 games, but his defensive skill was enough to earn him a spot in the AFL Rising Stars All-Star game.
[edit] 2007
[edit] Spring training
Ellsbury participated in the Red Sox' 2007 spring training camp in Fort Myers, Florida as a non-roster invitee and was assigned to the minor league camp on March 9, after earning rave reviews for his fielding and speed on the basepaths, in 8 games at the major league camp. He was the #1 prospect in the Red Sox organization,[6] and was rated as the #33 prospect in baseball for 2007 by Baseball America[7] and #43 by Sports Illustrated.[8]
[edit] Minor league play
He started the 2007 season as the starting center fielder for the Sea Dogs and was promoted to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox on May 4, 2007 after batting .452 in 17 games at Portland and being named the Eastern League Player of the Month for April. He was chosen to play in the 2007 All-Star Futures Game as part of the MLB All-Star festivities at AT&T Park in San Francisco, but was replaced by Matt Tolbert due to his promotion to the Red Sox. After returning to the minors he was reinstated on the US Futures roster to replace the injured Cameron Maybin.[9] He went 0-4 in the game.
Ellsbury set a new consecutive game hitting streak record for Pawtucket on August 24, 2007,[10] besting the mark that had been held by both Dave Stapleton and Dave Berg at 19 consecutive games. His streak ended at 25 games on August 31 with an 0-4 outing.
Ellsbury finished the Triple-A season with 33 stolen bases, tied for second in the International League with Darnell McDonald of the Rochester Red Wings, and one behind leader Bernie Castro of the Columbus Clippers. But while Castro had 34 steals in 118 games, and McDonald 33 steals in 134 games, Ellsbury's 33 steals came in just 87 games.
For the second consecutive season, the Red Sox selected Ellsbury as their minor league Defensive Player of the Year and Baserunner of the Year.[11]
[edit] Major league play
With an injury to Coco Crisp, Ellsbury had his contract purchased and received a call-up to the Red Sox on June 30, 2007, where he made his MLB debut in center field and batted 9th against the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park[12] wearing number 46. He got his first major league hit against Robinson Tejeda of the Rangers in the bottom of the third inning of his debut game. His first career stolen base came off pitcher Brandon McCarthy and catcher Gerald Laird of the Rangers on July 2, and he also impressed in that game when he scored from second base on a wild pitch.[13] Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame member Johnny Pesky described the play as "the greatest single play I've ever seen in all my years in baseball".[14] He was optioned back to Pawtucket on July 5 after appearing in 6 games for the Red Sox.[15]
On August 17, he was recalled for the second game of a doubleheader where he led off and played center field.[16] He was then optioned back to Pawtucket after the game.[17]
On September 1, when the Major League rosters expanded to 40 players he was again recalled to the Red Sox, and on September 2, he hit his first Major League home run off Daniel Cabrera of the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the 4th inning. It was a solo shot which landed in the Red Sox bullpen.
The New York Times described him in a September 2007 article as a "cult hero" who brings "speed, improved defense, and unbridled enthusiasm."[18]
He was named MLB's American League Rookie of the Month for September [19] and with fewer than 130 Major League at-bats, he still qualified as a rookie for the 2008 season.
[edit] 2007 postseason
During the 2007 postseason, with Coco Crisp struggling, Ellsbury got the start in center field in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Indians and started in every subsequent postseason game. In 11 total postseason games, he hit .360 in 25 at-bats with 9 hits and 2 stolen bases.
On October 27, with his two doubles off Josh Fogg in top of the third inning of Game 3 of the World Series, he became the first rookie to hit two doubles in the same inning of a World Series game; Matt Williams in 2001 is the only other player to duplicate the feat. After hitting another double off Brian Fuentes in the 8th inning, he became one of four rookies ever to hit three doubles in a World Series game. His four hits, including a single in the first inning, made him only the third rookie to ever accomplish the feat in the World Series, after Freddie Lindstrom in 1924 and Joe Garagiola in 1946.
For the World Series, he batted .438 with 4 doubles and a stolen base.
[edit] 2008
Heading into the 2008 season, Ellsbury was ranked as the #13 prospect by Baseball America,[20] the #16 prospect by Baseball Prospectus[21] and the #19 prospect by ESPN Scouts Inc.[22] All rank him as the #2 prospect in the Red Sox organization behind Clay Buchholz.
Ellsbury hit .224/.291/.347 in 16 spring training games and started in center field for the 2008 MLB season opener against the Oakland Athletics on March 25 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. He hit his first home run of the season on April 6 off Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre leading off the top of the 3rd inning. He stole his first base of the season on April 12 off Mike Mussina and Jose Molina of the New York Yankees in the bottom of the first inning.
On April 22, Ellsbury had his first career multi-home run game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He hit one solo shot off a Jered Weaver pitch in the first inning, and another off a Darren O'Day pitch in the sixth.
On May 18 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park, Ellsbury was caught stealing on a pitch-out in the fourth inning. That ended a streak of 25 consecutive stolen bases to begin his career, two shy of the major league record held by Tim Raines in 1979.[23] On May 30 with three steals against the Baltimore Orioles, he became the first Red Sox player to steal more than two bases in a game since Jerry Remy stole four on June 14, 1980;[24] he then stole another three bases in the next game, and one more in the third game of the series, for a total of seven.
On June 15, Ellsbury stole his 32nd base of the season, breaking the Red Sox rookie record of 31 steals, set 100 years earlier by Amby McConnell.[25].
He finished the season with 50 steals to lead the American League and put him 3rd on the list of Red Sox all-time stolen base leaders for a single season behind Tommy Harper (54) in 1973 and Tris Speaker (52) in 1912.
He has also garnered praise for his defense in the outfield, playing 178 games (1,430 innings) without committing an error in his Major League career (as of the end of the 2008 regular season).
Ellsbury finished a distant 3rd in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Evan Longoria of Tampa Bay and Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox.[26]
[edit] 2008 postseason
Ellsbury hit .333/.400/.567 with three stolen bases in the American League Division Series, in which the Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 3–1 in the best-of-five series.
In the second inning of Game 3 of the ALDS, Ellsbury hit the first three-run single in postseason history when Howie Kendrick and Torii Hunter let a pop-up fall to the ground between them.[27]Shortly after, he stole second base.
After going 0-14 in the first 3 games of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Ellsbury was benched in favor of Coco Crisp with only a pinch hitting at-bat in game 4. He did not play in games 5, 6 or 7, where the Sox eventually lost the series 4–3.
[edit] 2009
On April 12 Ellsbury played his 179th straight regular-season game without an error, breaking Mike Greenwell’s Red Sox franchise record for outfielders.
On April 15 Ellsbury with 6 errorless chances passed Coco Crisp for most errorless chances by a center fielder, setting a new Red Sox franchise record of 433.
On April 26 in a game against the New York Yankees, Ellsbury stole home with the bases loaded and Andy Pettitte on the mound. According to the April 26 edition of SportsCenter, Ellsbury's was the first steal of home plate by a Red Sox player with no other runners attempting to steal since Jeff Frye stole home in a game ten years prior, and it was the first steal of home plate with no squeeze attempt or other runners attempting to steal (a "pure" steal of home) since Billy Hatcher in 1994. Following his return to the dugout after the steal, Red Sox fans called Ellsbury back for a curtain call for his performance.
On May 20 Ellsbury tied a Major League record for outfielders with 12 putouts in a nine-inning game, tying Earl Clark of the Boston Braves who did it against the Cincinnati Reds on May 10, 1929 and Lyman Bostock of the Minnesota Twins who did it against the Red Sox on May 25, 1977[28].
On May 27 Ellsbury went 0-3 to snap a 22-game hitting steak.
On June 17th Ellsbury's streak of 232 games and 554 chances without an error ended when he had a ball hit by Jorge Cantu of the Florida Marlins, go off the top of his glove in the top of the first inning, at Fenway Park. It was the longest errorless streak by an outfielder in Red Sox history[29].
[edit] Personal life
Ellsbury was one of the victims of the $8 billion dollar fraud perpetrated by wealth manager Allen Stanford;[30] although Ellsbury had some assets frozen, it did not cause him any significant hardship, like those suffered by Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady.[31]
[edit] Career statistics
[edit] Amateur career
| Season | Team | League | Age | AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Bend | Pacific International League | 18 | .357 | 31 | 82 | 19 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 7 | .463 | .500 |
| 2003 | Oregon State | NCAA | 19 | .330 | 53 | 206 | 56 | 68 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 33 | 14 | 4 | 26 | 33 | .427 | .510 |
| 2003 | Anchorage | Alaska Baseball League | 19 | .338 | 39 | 145 | 24 | 49 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 12 | .421 | .427 |
| 2004 | Oregon State | NCAA | 20 | .352 | 49 | 196 | 56 | 69 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 20 | 4 | 30 | 17 | .464 | .459 |
| 2004 | Falmouth | Cape Cod League | 20 | .245 | 28 | 110 | 20 | 27 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 17 | 25 | .376 | .345 |
| 2005 | Oregon State | NCAA | 21 | .406 | 58 | 244 | 56 | 99 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 48 | 26 | 8 | 36 | 21 | .495 | .582 |
- 2002 Pacific International League All-Star
- 2003 Freshman Second Team NCAA All-American
- 2004 Pac-10 Conference All-Star
- 2005 Pac-10 Conference Co-Player of the Year
- 2005 Pac-10 Conference All-Star
- 2005 First Team NCAA All-American
[edit] Minor League career
| Season | Team | League | Age | AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Lowell | A | 21 | .317 | 35 | 139 | 28 | 44 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 23 | 3 | 24 | 20 | .418 | .432 |
| 2006 | Wilmington | A | 22 | .299 | 61 | 244 | 35 | 73 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 32 | 25 | 9 | 25 | 28 | .379 | .418 |
| 2006 | Portland | AA | 22 | .308 | 50 | 198 | 29 | 61 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 16 | 8 | 24 | 25 | .387 | .434 |
| 2006 | Peoria | Arizona Fall League | 23 | .276 | 25 | 105 | 18 | 29 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 16 | .342 | .371 |
| 2007 | Portland | AA | 23 | .452 | 17 | 73 | 16 | 33 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 7 | .518 | .644 |
| 2007 | Pawtucket | AAA | 23 | .298 | 87 | 363 | 66 | 108 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 33 | 6 | 32 | 47 | .360 | .380 |
- 2006 Carolina League All-Star
- 2006 Eastern League Player of the Week - August 6-13
- 2006 Red Sox Minor League Defensive Player of the Year
- 2006 Red Sox Minor League Base Runner of the Year
- 2006 Arizona Fall League Rising Stars
- 2007 Eastern League Player of the Month - April
- 2007 XM All-Star Futures Game
- 2007 Red Sox Minor League Defensive Player of the Year
- 2007 Red Sox Minor League Base Runner of the Year
[edit] Major League career
| Season | Team | League | Age | AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Boston | AL | 24 | .353 | 33 | 116 | 20 | 41 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 15 | .394 | .509 | 131 |
| 2008 | Boston | AL | 25 | .280 | 145 | 554 | 98 | 155 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 47 | 50 | 11 | 41 | 80 | .336 | .394 | 87 |
| 2009 | Boston | AL | 25 | .303 | 56 | 258 | 31 | 73 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 23 | 6 | 13 | 21 | .342 | .369 | 83 |
Through June 12
- 2007 American League Rookie of the Month - September
- 2008 Red Sox rookie single season stolen bases record
- 2008 American League stolen base leader
[edit] References
- ^ Edes, Gordon. "Ellsbury a rare talent". boston.com. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/03/11/ellsbury_a_rare_talent. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
- ^ McPhillips, Alex. "Ellsbury shows his speed in debut". mlb.com. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070630&content_id=2058351&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved on 2007-07-01.
- ^ Callis, Jim. "Top Ten Prospects: Boston Red Sox". baseballamerica.com. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/features/05top10s/redsox.html. Retrieved on 2006-01-06.
- ^ "News". seadogs.com. http://www.seadogs.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1152727639. Retrieved on 2006-07-12.
- ^ "News". seadogs.com. http://www.portlandseadogs.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1155574176. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
- ^ Callis, Jim. "Top Ten Prospects Boston Red Sox". baseballamerica.com. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/262814.html. Retrieved on 2006-11-10.
- ^ Staff Report. "2007 Top 100 Prospects". BaseballAmerica.com. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/263445.html. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
- ^ Smith, Bryan. "2007 Top prospects: Nos. 45-31". SI.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/01/19/prospects.partiii/index.html. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
- ^ Manual, John. "Futures Update: Maybin Out, Ellsbury Back". baseballamerica.com. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=428. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ Hickling, Dan. "Ellsbury sets hitting-streak record for PawSox". projo.com. http://www.projo.com/pawsox/content/sp_bb_pawsox25_08-25-07_OK6SORQ.366d72c.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
- ^ "Press Release". redsox.com. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070926&content_id=2231230&vkey=pr_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ McPhillips, Alex. "Ellsbury gets called up to The Show". mlb.com. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070630&content_id=2058351&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
- ^ Malloy, Daniel. "Fast becoming a real favorite". boston.com. http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2007/07/03/fast_becoming_a_real_favorite/. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
- ^ "The 'second coming' of Jacoby Ellsbury". http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/sports/1206154501137210.xml&coll=7. Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
- ^ "Press Release". redsox.com. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070706&content_id=2070746&vkey=pr_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
- ^ Lefort, David. "Ellsbury in Game 2 lineup". boston.com. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2007/08/ellsbury_in_gam.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ "Press Release". redsox.com. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20070818&content_id=2156353&vkey=pr_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- ^ Curry, Jack. "Attention Being Paid to Red Sox Rookie". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/sports/baseball/15redsox.html. Retrieved on 2007-09-15.
- ^ "Press Release". mlb.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20071001&content_id=2244079&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ^ staff report. "Top 100 Prospects". baseballamerica.com. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2008/265655.html. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
- ^ Goldstein, Kevin. "Top 100 Prospects". baseballprospectus.com. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7092. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Law, Keith. "Top 100 prospects of 2008". ESPN.com. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/columns/story?columnist=law_keith&id=3221365. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ "Brewers swipe Ellsbury's history attempt". redsox.com. http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080518&content_id=2725318&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
- ^ Edes, Gordon. "It's just a throwaway, but Red Sox take it". boston.com. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/05/31/its_just_a_throwaway_but_red_sox_take_it/. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- ^ Kay, Joe. "Red Sox homer 4 times in 9-0 win over Reds". boston.com. http://boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/06/15/red_sox_homer_4_times_in_9_0_win_over_reds/. Retrieved on 2008-06-14.
- ^ "Longoria, Soto are Rookies of the Year". mlb.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081110&content_id=3672838&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
- ^ "Ellsbury single makes playoff history". mlb.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081005&content_id=3593654&vkey=ps2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved on 2008-10-06.
- ^ Cafardo, Nick. "The ultimate tracking device". boston.com. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2009/05/21/the_ultimate_tracking_device/. Retrieved on 2009-05-21.
- ^ Browne, Ian. "E-8: Ellsbury makes first career error". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090617&content_id=5377584&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb. Retrieved on 2009-06-17.
- ^ Why Do Pro Athletes Go Broke? SI.com, March 29, 2009
- ^ Asset freeze isn't that chilling for Ellsbury Boston.com, February 22, 2009.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Jacoby Ellsbury - 25 - Male - BOSTON, Massachusetts at MySpace
| Preceded by Brian Roberts and Carl Crawford |
American League Stolen Base Champion 2008 |
Succeeded by none |
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