When you look at the list, there may be no better center fielder than Jacoby Ellsbury. His spectacular speed earns him stolen bases, 52 of them in fact, and in collaboration with Shane Victorino makes it so that any ball hit right of the Green Monster scoreboard has the possibility of finding the glove of one of the Sox spectacular outfield defenders.
Through 131 games this season, Ellsbury has been batting close to .300 and has complied 52 RBI's from the lead-off spot. In almost all of Boston's victories this season, Jacoby Ellsbury has been a key role player but now, the Sox may have to make do without him...for a long time.
We have known for some time that the style of hitting that Jacoby Ellsbury applies with such great sucsess does come with a price. Ellsbury likes pitches high in the zone and for this reason often rips the large majority of his hits through the grounder. For this reason, Jacoby often feels countless foul balls ricochet off his legs and feet. Now more often than not, he simply limps around the batter’s box for a couple seconds but on a rare occasions, these fouls cause great damage. That damage was felt Thursday night when the Sox center fielder took a pitch off the foot amidst Boston's 10 inning victory.
Ellsbury returned to Boston before this Saturday game seeking medical help as it was suggested that he had suffered a broken foot.
"I don't think we're looking at something that is just day to day here," John Farrell said Saturday. "But before we get into any kind of time frame, I think what's probably best for all involved here is to wait until we get more conclusive evidence and information."
According to reports, the suspected injury is located in Ellsbury's Navicular Bone located at the top of the foot, and involves a complete fracture of the slightly cube like bone. A similar injury was also suffered by Dustin Pedroia in 2010. Dustin missed upwards of 3 months due to the injury and was forced to have a screw inserted in the off-season to help with heeling.
Now as we all know, no injury is the same as the last, but Ellsbury already has been giving a first opinion and is now seeking the diagnosis of a Denver doctor. Ellsbury is wearing a walking boot and that can only mean bad things.
So, assuming that Ellsbury is out indefinitely, who comes in to replace him?
"Let's not kid ourselves," Farrell said. "Jacoby Ellsbury in the leadoff spot, with the stolen-base ability, the talent that he has -- this is a guy we're going to miss for the time being that he will be out."
One guy who might possibly come in: Jackie Bradly Jr. He was the guy in the starting role on Saturday and went 1 for 3 with a walk in Boston's 13-9 victory over the Yankees. Now discounting that game Jackie had played 61 previous games with the Sox an had been less than stellar. He batted .155 with just 10 hits and 7 RBI's he complied 8 walks and got on base with just 25% of the time.
"We'll probably go day to day for the time being," Farrell said talking about Boston's outfield alignment.
Another option lies with a player acquired via a recent trade. Originally a center fielder for the Tigers, Quintin Berry came to the Sox back on August 27th. In 4 games since the trade, Berry has pinch run for batters 3 different times and has gone 2 for 3 at the plate. He also scored on the hit that served as David Ortiz's 2,000 career hit.
“It was good to finally get an opportunity to show I could help,” Berry said. “Hopefully I can continue to do it. With this club, I’m not going to get a ton of opportunities, because these guys are going to hit the ball, but when my name is called, I want to be ready to answer."
But regardless, no one can replace Ellsbury.
"[Ellsbury] is frustrated," Farrell said. "He wants to be on the field. He feels like he can play right now. But at the direction of the medical people, we have to be careful with this. I can tell you this: Jacoby wants to be on the field. He's kind of [ticked] he's not here right now, to be honest with you."
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