Jacoby Ellsbury
From BR Bullpen
Jacoby McCabe Ellsbury
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.
- School Oregon State University
- High School Madras High School
- Debut June 30, 2007
- Born September 11, 1983 in Madras, OR USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury made his big league debut in June 2007. He is believed to be the first major leaguer of Navajo descent.
[edit] Amateur career
Ellsbury was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 23rd round of the 2002 amateur draft but did not sign. Moving on to college, he hit .330/~.409/.510 as a freshman. He joined Travis Buck and Matt Sutton on the Baseball America Freshman All-America second team in the outfield. As a sophomore, Ellsbury improved to .352/~.438/.459. He made the All-Pacific-10 Conference outfield alongside Buck, Brent Lillibridge and others. As a junior, Jacoby hit .406/.495/.582 with 26 steals in 34 tries. He again was a Pac-10 All-Conference outfielder and split Pac-10 Player of the Year honors with Trevor Crowe. He helped OSU to its first College World Series berth in 53 years. Ellsbury had beaten Crowe for the batting title by three points and trailed Pac-10 steal leaders Crowe and Buck by one. He was 20th in NCAA Division I in average. Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association both named him as a first-team NCAA Division I All-American outfielder.
[edit] Minor league career
He was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft. He made his pro debut that year with the Lowell Spinners and hit .317/.418/.432 with 23 stolen bases while only being caught three times. He finished one stolen base behind New York-Penn League leader Jose Costanza. Baseball America rated him the NYPL's #6 prospect, sandwiched between Radhames Liz and teammate Jed Lowrie. He began 2006 with the Wilmington Blue Rocks, where he hit .299/.379/.418 and swiped 25 bases in 34 tries over 61 games before being promoted to the Portland Sea Dogs. He made only one error, fielding .994, for Wilmington. With Portland, he hit .308/.387/.434 and stole 16 bases in 24 tries and 50 games. Following the season, he was rated by Baseball America as the Red Sox system's top prospect. He had led their minor leaguers in 2006 in hits (149), triples (10) and steals. Baseball America had picked him that year as the #2 prospect in the Carolina League and #7 in the Eastern League, right behind Adam Lind. They additionally rated him as the best baserunner, best defensive outfielder and fastest baserunner in the Carolina League.
Ellsbury began 2007 with Portland, where he hit .452/.518/.644 with 10 doubles and 8 steals (in 9 tries) in 17 games before being promoted to the Pawtucket Red Sox. With Pawtucket, he batted .277/.352/.354 and 21 steals in 26 tries. In 50 games, he scored 36 runs. Ellsbury was named to the USA roster for the Futures Game but he was called up by Boston in June and made his big league debut on June 30th. He was called up in part due to a thumb injury to CF Coco Crisp. In his first MLB at-bat, Ellsbury grounded out against Robinson Tejeda in the second inning. His first hit was a single an inning later.
Matt Tolbert took Ellsbury's spot on the Futures Game roster, but when US outfielder Cameron Maybin was hurt, Ellsbury did get to play in the 2007 Futures Game after all despite having been up in the majors so recently. Ellsbury went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts as the leadoff man and left fielder for the USA.
Overall, Ellsbury hit .298/.360/.380 for Pawtucket with 66 runs in 87 games and 33 stolen bases in 39 attempts. Despite his limited time in the International League, he tied Darnell McDonald for second in stolen bases, just one behind leader Bernie Castro.
Ellsbury batted .353/.394/.509 and was successful in all nine steal attempts in his 33 games for the 2007 Boston Red Sox, scoring 20 runs. He had a 131 OPS+. He continued to shine in the postseason. In the 2007 World Series, his four hits in game three tied the World Series record for rookies, set by Freddie Lindstrom in 1924 and Joe Garagiola in 1946.
Sources: 2003-2007 Baseball Almanacs, Soxprospects.com bio
[edit] Year-by-Year Playing Record
| Year | Team | League | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BA | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Lowell Spinners | New York-Penn League | 35 | 139 | 28 | 44 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 19 | .317 | 23 |
| 2006 | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Carolina League | 61 | 244 | 35 | 73 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 32 | .299 | 25 |
| Portland Sea Dogs | Eastern League | 50 | 198 | 29 | 61 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 19 | .308 | 16 |
[edit] Notable Achievements
- AL Stolen Bases Leader (2008)
- 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 1 (2008)
- Won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2007
