Jacoby Ellsbury sparking Yankees lineup
By Tim Haberin
After a somewhat underwhelming debut season in pinstripes, Jacoby Ellsbury is giving the New York Yankees exactly what they paid for in 2015. He hit a rather pedestrian .271 last year but is swinging the bat exceptionally well in the early part of the new campaign, boasting a stellar .358/.433/.415 slash line over 25 games. The center fielder has ratcheted it up a few notches during his current eight-game hitting streak. He is 18-for-35 (.514) over that span along with seven runs scored out of the leadoff spot. Ellsbury is making an impact on the base paths as well, swiping an AL-best 11 bags in 15 attempts.
In a Yankees lineup producing runs at a lively rate (131 total, fourth-most in MLB), Ellsbury has been at the center of things. He’s crossed home plate for a team-leading 21 of those runs, making him the top-of-the-order sparkplug the Bombers hoped he would be when they snatched him away from the rival Red Sox. That December 2013 free agent signing raised eyebrows at the time for several reasons. Ellsbury’s seven-year, $153 million deal seemed to herald the impending exit of Robinson Cano. Some questioned the wisdom of investing such a large sum in a player with a skill set very similar to Brett Gardner‘s.
Few are singing that tune at present, with both outfielders leading the way for a first-place Yankees club. Batting behind Ellsbury, Gardner is managing his own impressive line at .309/.404/.444. His eight steals are good for fifth in the AL, and he has also swatted a pair of home runs. Though recognized mainly for their speed, Ellsbury and Gardner have been known to flash a power stroke from time to time. Gardner more than doubled his previous career-high in homers last season by hitting 17. Ellsbury added 16 of his own and is four years removed from hitting 32 in a season that saw him finish second in MVP voting. They have also demonstrated an intuitive partnership while roaming the outfield grass, as noted by the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Barbarisi.
Neither are bona fide sluggers, of course, and many would question how good a team can truly be when its best players are more “table-setters” than RBI engines. Could the declining bats in the middle of the Yankees order do enough to take advantage? They have certainly found a winning formula in the first 27 games of the season, propelling the squad to a 17-10 start and a three-game lead in the combative AL East.
This torrid stretch of Ellsbury’s has been made all the more effective by the surprising amount of pop shown by the rest of the Yankees lineup. After a highly-publicized power outage the last couple seasons, the Bombers are finally living up to that moniker again in 2015. Their 34 round-trippers are the second-most in the American League after Houston and 11 more than they had at the same point last year. And they have been coming from some unexpected sources. The new gluten-free version of Mark Teixeira has ten, trailing only Nelson Cruz‘s MLB-leading 14. A-Rod has six, as does utility outfielder Chris Young, who seems to push for more playing time over the fading Carlos Beltran every time he takes the field.
Jacoby Ellsbury is a pure pleasure to watch right now. He is simply locked-in at the plate and the ball seems to have a nose for a base hit every time it comes off his bat. If he maintains this sort of pace he will almost surely edge his way into the AL MVP conversation. Meanwhile, the Yankees are more than happy to reap the rewards in the standings.