Jacoby Ellsbury

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Jacoby Ellsbury

Boston Red Sox — No. 46
Outfielder
Born: September 11, 1983 (1983-09-11) (age 24) Madras, Oregon
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
June 30, 2007 for the Boston Red Sox
Selected MLB statistics (through May 30, 2008)
Batting average	.310
Home runs	7
Runs batted in	37
Stolen bases	32
Teams
Boston Red Sox (2007-present)

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. Originally drafted, but not signed, by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 23rd round of the 2002 MLB entry draft and in 2005 was drafted by Boston, 23rd overall, in the entry draft out of Oregon State University.

Jacoby 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]

Ellsbury was raised a Mormon.^[3]

[edit] Personal stats

• Height: 6'1"
• Weight: 185 lbs
• Drafted: 1st round, 2005
• College: Oregon State University
• High school: Madras High School, Madras, Oregon

[edit] Professional career

[edit] 2005

Jacoby began his professional career on July 14, 2005 with the Lowell Spinners in the short-season Class A New York-Penn League. He showed right off that his patience and speed was 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.

[edit] 2006

Jacoby began the season as the #6 prospect in the Red Sox organization^[4] 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^[5].

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.^[6] 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 Base-runner of the Year and given a roster spot on the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League, an off season 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

Jacoby participated in the Red Sox 2007 spring training camp in Fort Myers, FL 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,^[7] and was rated as the #33 prospect in baseball for 2007 by Baseball America^[8] and #43 by Sports Illustrated.^[9]

[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 XM 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.^[10] He went 0-4 in the game.

Jacoby set a new consecutive game hitting streak record for Pawtucket on August 24, 2007,^[11] 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 AAA 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 Base-runner of the Year.^[12]

[edit] Major league play

With an injury to Coco Crisp, Jacoby 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^[13] 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.^[14] 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".^[15] He was optioned back to Pawtucket on July 5 after appearing in 6 games for the Red Sox.^[16]

On August 17, he was recalled for the second game of a doubleheader where he led off and played center field.^[17] He was then optioned back to Pawtucket after the game.^[18]

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."^[19]

He was named MLB's American League Rookie of the Month for September ^[20] and with fewer than 130 Major League at bats, he will qualify as a rookie for the 2008 season.

[edit] Postseason

During the 2007 postseason, with Coco Crisp slumping, Jacoby got the start in center field in Game 6 of the ALCS 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 Joe Garagiola in 1946 and Freddie Lindstrom in 1924.

For the World Series, he batted .438 with 4 doubles and a stolen base.

[edit] 2008

Heading into the 2008 season, Jacoby has been ranked as the #13 prospect by Baseball America,^[21] the #16 prospect by Baseball Prospectus^[22] and the #19 prospect by ESPN Scouts Inc.^[23] All rank him as the #2 prospect in the Red Sox organization behind Clay Buchholz.

Jacoby hit .224/.291/.347 in 16 spring training games and started in center field for the 2008 MLB season opener against the Oakland A's 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, Jacoby had his first career multi-home run game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He hit a solo shot off of Jered Weaver in the 1st inning and another solo shot off of Darren O'Day in the 6th Inning.

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.^[24] 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;^[25] Ellsbury then stole another three bases in the next game, and one more in the third game of the series, for a total of seven. Ellsbury's 27 stolen bases as of June 1 put him on pace to threaten Tommy Harper's Red Sox season record of 54 stolen bases, set in 1973.^[26]

While Ellsbury did not get a spot on the All-Star voting ballot, he leads all write-in candidates for the American League.^[27]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Amateur career

• 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

• 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

Through May 30

• 2007 American League Rookie of the Month - September

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
• Minor League Stats